The Girl from Celadon
by 1st Lieutenant. Fae
Summary: Kikyo Halberg a trainer from Celadon City has a dream the same as many other trainers, to become the absolute best Pokemon Master in history. Together with her friends and rivals Shawn Helmsly and Keith Yamato she makes her way through Kanto to prove herself and eventually challenge the Elite Four to realize her dream and claim her title of the one true Pokemon Master.
1. Its a New Day

A quick foreword. This if is based entirely off the game series not the anime or any of the manga.

Rated T for minor swearing, suggestive themes and violence.

* * *

Celadon City, a rich rainbow colored city where people and Pokémon gather.

That was the motto of Celadon City the most populated city in the Kanto region and it wasn't just the most populated it was the busiest. Thanks to the Celadon Department Store and the Celadon Game Corner the city attracted attention not just from other cities, but from other regions as well.

And in spite of those attractions Celadon was arguably the most beautiful city in the Kanto region thanks to the leader of the Celadon Gym Erika. A young, quiet and beautiful girl who studies the art of flower arranging and uses grass- Pokémon to aid her in the many arrangements she makes in her gym and around the city.

Even though she was a quiet person often dozing off and day-dreaming she was very well known by the residents of Celadon City. She often teaches the kids of Celadon the art of flower arranging as well as telling them stories that bordered on fairy tales. Even with her passion for flowers and Pokémon Erika found another passion for teaching others the same things she had learned herself.

One of Erika's favorite students was a 14 year old girl named Kikyo Halberg a native to Celadon just like she was. Kikyo stood at 5'4 with shoulder length light brown hair that shined the same way her violet eyes did.

Kikyo had been attending Erika's classes since she was a child one of Erika's most attentive student quietly and patiently taking in everything she said, Kikyo looked up to Erika as an older sister figure and a role model as a Pokémon trainer.

Kikyo's only Pokémon was her Eevee which she named Izanami. A couple of years ago Kikyo's father a local Pokémon breeder gave her and her childhood friend Shawn both a Pokémon egg.

Shawn Helmsly like Kikyo grew up in Celadon City although he and his mother moved to Kanto from its neighboring Johto region when Shawn was still an infant. Shawn and Kikyo lived next to each other the two of them became fast friends sharing many interests the main one being Pokémon.

Shawn's mother worked as a receptionist at the Celadon Department Store providing her and Shawn a simple life, but Shawn seemed happy enough playing with Kikyo everyday.

When both Kikyo and Shawn turned 12 Kikyo's father gave a Pokémon egg to each of them. The egg was brown with a pale tan ribbon running across the middle both of them were anxious to see what kind of Pokémon would hatch from the eggs, but they could only wait.

A few weeks later the eggs did indeed hatch giving both of them an Eevee to look after. Kikyo's father examined the newly hatched Pokémon and determined their genders before revealing to both of them that the two eggs came from the same parents making the Eevee's brother and sister.

With that knowledge in mind Kikyo suggested to Shawn that they name their new Pokémon Izanami and Izanagi after the two deities who created Japan. Izanami and Izanagi the two Eevee's just like their owners became fast friends with each other constantly playing every time they were together.

Kikyo was attending another one of Erika's classes with Izanami sitting in her lap. Erika was explaining to her students the most important thing to consider when arranging flowers and that is to have them compliment their surroundings. Looking over to the clock on the wall Erika smiled at her students, "Well that's it for today everyone I'll see you again in two days".

Kikyo waited for everyone else to leave before walking over to Erika, "Excuse me Erika" she began, waiting for Erika to turn to her.

"Yes Kikyo?" the gym leader replied before seeing Izanami in Kikyo's arms, "Hello again Izanami how are you?" she asked petting the Eevee.

Izanami nuzzled against Erika's hand as she pet it, "So what do you need Kikyo?" Erika asked her.

Kikyo hesitated for a brief second before she looked up to her, "Will you battle me and Izanami?" Erika seemed surprised at her student's request, but Kikyo quickly explained herself, "I need to make Izanami stronger. I intend to challenge the Elite Four one day and to do that I need to become a skilled trainer".

Erika was silent as she thought about her student's request, but eventually she agreed, "Alright Kikyo I accept your challenge".

Erika led Kikyo over to the gym's battle area and took her place at the opposite end, "Alright Kikyo since you only have Izanami this will be a one on one battle before we begin though have you ever battled before?"

Kikyo shook her head, "No, but I know and understand the basics of battling".

Erika nodded, "Very well then I'll give you tips and advice on how to battle as we progress. Should you have any questions for me just ask" she told her as she pulled out a pokeball from her robe, "Now let's begin go Weepinbell!" The pokeball opened and emitted a bright flash of light as the Pokémon inside was released.

Erika's Weepinbell entered the field bouncing up and down as it waited for its opponent.

"Alright Izanami you ready?" Kikyo asked her Eevee.

Izanami growled happily as she jumped out of Kikyo's arms and stared down Erika's Weepinbell.

Kikyo smiled as she threw her arm out and pointed at Weepinbell, "Alright Izanami let's go quick attack!"

Izanami growled as it charged forward with incredible speed and rammed its body into Erika's Weepinbell sending it flying to the side.

"A good opening attack Kikyo" Erika praised, "But it'll take more than that to keep us down. Weepinbell use razor leaf".

Weepinbell turned to the side and threw its leaf shaped arms out spawning a wave of razor sharp leaves that flew toward Izanami.

"Izanami dodge" Kikyo yelled, "To the left".

Izanami followed its trainer's orders and jumped to the left avoiding the sharp leaves as Kikyo gave her next order, "Izanami go in for a tackle!"

Izanami began running toward Weepinbell, but Erika had no intention of making it easy for her student, "Weepinbell use razor leaf".

Weepinbell flung another wave of razor sharp leaves at Izanami and just like last time Kikyo called to her to dodge to the left just like Erika was expecting.

"Weepinbell quick use vine whip"

Weepinbell jumped up and sent out two long vines from under its leaf like arms. The vines intercepted Izanami as she dodged the razor leaf attack and quickly wrapped around her and lifted her into the air.

Erika apologized to Kikyo, "Sorry Kikyo, but I'm afraid I cannot allow myself to go easy on you".

Kikyo shook her head, "No if I'm going to learn I need you to come at me with everything you've got so don't hold back" she quickly looked back to Izanami, "Izanami use bite!"

Izanami struggled and reached its head forward as it opened its mouth and bit down on Weepinbell's vines causing the Pokémon pain and making it release Izanami.

Izanami dropped down and landed on its feet as Kikyo issued her next command, "Izanami quick attack, go!"

Once again Izanami charged forward with incredible speed ramming into Weepinbell and sending it flying to the side.

Erika smiled at Kikyo, "It seems I've underestimated you Kikyo even though this is your first battle you're pretty good". Kikyo thanked her for her praise, but Erika told her she had no intention of losing as she ordered Weepinbell to attack again, "Weepinbell get in close and use vine whip".

"_What?" _Kikyo thought to herself, _"Why have Weepinbell get in close? It can attack from a range that gives it an advantage. Getting in closer means it has a better chance to connect with its attacks, but it leaves it more vulnerable to Izanami so why would she risk getting closer…_Oh no!" Kikyo yelled as Erika ordered her Pokémon to attack.

"Weepinbell ensnare Izanami with vine whip".

Weepinbell shot out its vines just as Kikyo called for Izanami to dodge.

Izanami jumped out of the way, but Weepinbell's vines kept striking out at her until they eventually caught her. Once Izanami was caught Erika ordered her Weepinbell to hit it with stun spore paralyzing its foe.

"Izanami!" Kikyo cried as the cloud of spores fell around the two Pokémon, "Izanami use bite try to get away!"

Izanami opened its mouth to bite the vines holding it, but the paralysis it suffered from kept it from reaching the vines that held its body.

Erika held out her arm, "Now Weepinbell use giga drain".

Kikyo froze when she heard the attack Erika ordered, she had seen Erika battle before and giga drain was the strongest move any of her Pokémon knew. She had seen that move alone change the tide of an entire battle and completely shut down some Pokémon who were fresh into the fight.

"No stop!" she yelled just as Weepinbell was about to begin the draining attack. Hearing Kikyo cry for her to stop Erika quickly ordered her Weepinbell to halt its attack and release Izanami.

Weepinbell stopped its attack and gently set Izanami back on the ground as Kikyo ran over to her and scooped her into her arms, "Izanami I'm sorry" she cried, "I got overconfident please forgive me".

Izanami was still suffering from the paralysis, but managed to tilt its head back and lick the side of Kikyo's face letting her know that she didn't blame her.

Erika recalled her Weepinbell to its pokeball and quickly walked over to Kikyo who was still cradling Izanami, "You have nothing to worry about Kikyo, here" she handed her a small spray jar filled with a dark yellow liquid, "It's an item called a paralyze heal it'll neutralize the paralysis".

Kikyo slowly took the paralyze heal from Erika and sprayed it on Izanami. Erika watched the way Kikyo's hands were shaking as she applied the medicine to Izanami it was clear that she was still in need of a bit of practice before she took on another trainer let alone a gym leader.

Placing her hand on Kikyo's shoulder Erika smiled at her, "Don't worry Kikyo you did very well for your first official battle you even managed to take me by surprise a number of times with your quick thinking. All you need to do is practice and you'll get better" she looked down at Izanami and pet her, "You did well to Izanami you're pretty strong already".

Izanami gave her a thankful yip before closing her eyes and nesting her head against Kikyo's chest.

Kikyo looked up to Erika, "I…I got overconfident and allowed Izanami to get hurt and when I heard you tell Weepinbell to use giga drain I…I".

"Its ok" Erika told her, "Just take your time. I was beginner at one point to".

"She right Kikyo" a voice said from behind them.

Kikyo and Erika turned around to see Kikyo's friend Shawn walking over to them with his own Eevee Izanagi at his feet, "Everyone has to start somewhere".

Kikyo's childhood friend Shawn was 14 years old the same as her and stood at 5'8 his jet black hair was always neatly combed forward and his dark green eyes seemed penetrative at times, but his calm demeanor generally made people feel at ease around him.

"Oh Shawn" Erika said as he walked over to them, "How are you and Izanagi?"

"Pretty good" Shawn answered as he looked down at his Eevee, "How about you Izzy? Feeling good?"

Izanagi made an energetic yipping sound before seeing Izanami resting in Kikyo's arms. Izanagi walked over to Kikyo and sat at her feet tilting his head to the side as he looked up to her as if asking if Izanami was ok.

Kikyo smiled as she kneeled down and rubbed the back of the Pokémon's ear, "She'll be fine Izanagi she just needs to rest for a little bit".

Izanagi yipped again as Shawn gently scratched Izanami's back, "While I'm sure you'll make a great trainer one day you did challenge an official league gym leader as your first opponent did you really think that you could win that battle?"

Kikyo looked away from him she knew he meant well, but Shawn had a habit of being a bit crass from time to time. "I…I don't know" Kikyo told him, "At first I was so eager to have my first battle I was focused on how great I felt and when I got the first hit I started getting caught up in the excitement and then I…"

"It's alright" Shawn told her, "It's just like Erika said you just need to take your time and ease into it and if you want I'll help you".

"I will to" Erika told her, "If you ever need help just let me know".

Kikyo looked to Erika and smiled, "Thank you…both of you".

"Hey that's what friends are for right?" Shawn asked her, giving her a thumbs up before an idea hit him, "Alright here's an idea tomorrow we'll go over to route 7 and see if we can't find any wild Pokémon. We'll train together and while we're making these two stronger" he paused to look at the two Eevee's "We'll see about catching some other Pokémon to add to our team. How does that sound?"

Kikyo smiled and nodded to him before looking back at Erika, "Will you be able to join us?"

Erika smiled at her, "We'll see how my day looks first. If I have time to I'll come with you".

"That reminds me actually" Shawn said sliding his bag off his shoulder, "I have a delivery for you Erika. I was at the Department store talking to my mother when she asked me to bring this to you".

Shawn handed Erika a small red, diamond shaped box. Erika took the box and untied the string around it opening the lid she saw a small crystal glass vial inside, "Oh so its here" she said taking the vial.

"New perfume scent?" Shawn asked her, "According to mom your perfumes are some of the biggest sellers in the entire store".

Erika smiled at him, "I work hard to bring beautiful scents to the world another reason I decided to specialize in grass Pokémon".

"Your hard work pays off" Shawn told her, "It's a very pleasant smell".

Erika thanked Shawn for his kind words just s Kikyo stepped back and looked at Izanami in her arms, "Are you alright Izanami?"

The Eevee nestled around in her arms as it looked up to her and yipped she was definitely feeling better, but she was still injured from the battle.

"Perhaps its time to call it a day" Erika said to her, "Take Izanami to the Pokémon Center and have them tend to her".

Kikyo nodded and thanked Erika for her time before leaving the gym with Shawn and Izanagi behind her. Arriving at the Pokémon Center, Kikyo took Izanami over to the nurse and returned to the bench next to the door where Shawn waited for her.

"You shouldn't feel bad" Shawn told her as she sat down, "You battled extremely well for your firs time".

"How long were you there?" Kikyo asked him.

Shawn admitted that he had arrived right as the battle started, "Right as you called for that first quick attack is when I opened the door. You've got a natural talent to you I think you'll make an amazing trainer once you get started".

"What about you?" she asked him, "Are you going to be a trainer to?"

"Of course" Shawn said while Izanagi curled up on his lap to rest, "I plan on going to the top of the Pokémon League and then I'm heading to Johto and climbing their ladder to" Shawn looked down at Izanagi and scratched his ear while he rested, "I'm going to go to every region in the world and conquer each of their leagues until I'm known as the number 1 trainer in history".

Kikyo was impressed by her friend's declaration, "Dreaming a bit big are we?"

Shawn crossed his arms with a smile, "All-in or all-out I never go half way on anything. Speaking of which" he reached into his bag again and pulled out a handful of pokeballs, "These are for you we're going to need them if we're going to become trainers we're going to have to catch some Pokémon and build a strong team".

Kikyo took the pokeballs and placed them in her own bag, "Thank you, but you didn't have to get them for me".

"Then consider it my challenge to you" Shawn told her still smiling, "Once we've both built a team we're happy with we'll face each other in a match, how's that sound?"

Kikyo smiled back at him as the nurse called her name telling her that Izanami was healthy again. Kikyo quickly jumped up and ran over to the nurse who handed her Izanami and whished her good day before returning to work.

Kikyo returned to Shawn with Izanami in her arms. Shawn looked up to Izanami when he saw her, "How are you feeling Izanami?"

Izanami yipped just as Izanagi woke up and jumped off Shawn's lap and yipped at Izanami. Izanami jumped out of Kikyo's arms and began playing with Izanagi.

"Well they're happy" Shawn said as he stood up, "Ready to head back home?"

The two friends and their Pokémon returned to their homes early to rest intending to start their training first thing in the morning after they awakened.

Kikyo left her house dressed in a dark purple shirt with long blue jeans and black tennis shoes. Slinging her dark red bag over her shoulder she called for Izanami before running off to Route 7 to meet up with Shawn and Izanagi.

"Hey" she called to Shawn after exiting the city.

Shawn was dressed in a three piece suit consisting of dark black dress pants and a matching jacket with a white undershirt and a silver tie. He ran his hand over his black hair before he grabbed the sides of his notched lapel and quickly slid his hands down the side to straighten it before looking over to Izanami.

"Morning" Shawn called back to her as she ran over to him with Izanami at her heels, "Good morning Izanami" he said kneeling down to pet her, "You two ready?"

"What are you dressed up for?" Kikyo asked him, "Got a date?"

Shawn looked over to her with a sly smile, "Maybe.

Kikyo shook her head, "So where do we start?"

Shawn pointed over to a shallow field of grass where a flock of a very common Pokémon known as Pidgey was scratching at the ground looking for food.

"Pidgey?" Kikyo asked upon seeing the group of tiny bird Pokémon.

Shawn nodded, "Pidgey are generally pretty weak at first so they'll make a good first target. We can catch one and use it to further our team and then we can continue training".

Kikyo looked over to the flock of Pidgey grazing around in the grass before she looked down at Izanami, "You ready?"

Izanami hopped before running over to the edge of the grass and looking back at Kikyo to wait for her.

Kikyo giggled at her Pokémon as she followed after her with Shawn and Izanagi right behind her.

Slowly entering the shallow grass the two friends quietly crept up on a pair of Pidgey that were further away from the rest of the flock, "Alright" Shawn began as they kneeled down to watch the Pidgey, "You take the one on the right and I'll get the one on the left, last one to capture theirs has to buy lunch".

"You're on!" Kikyo said before they both jumped up and ordered their Eevee's to attack.

Izanagi and Izanami both jumped out of the grass and ran at the two Pidgey just as they tried to fly away, but the two trainers ordered them to use quick attack allowing them to both get swift devastating hits on their targets knocking them back to the ground.

"Alright there's our chance" Shawn yelled as he pulled out a pokeball and threw it.

"I won't lose" Kikyo said to him as she threw hers as well.

The two pokeballs hit the weakened Pokémon and opened up and sucked them in before closing. Once the Pokémon were trapped inside the pokeballs they dropped to the ground and began rocking as the Pokémon inside struggled to avoid its capture.

Both Kikyo and Shawn waited anxiously for the pokeballs to stop rocking it seemed to take forever, but eventually they pokeballs fell still and the light at their center stopped flashing signaling that they had successfully captured their new Pokémon.

"We did it!" Kikyo cheered after a brief silence before running over to her pokeball and scooping it into her hands, "I just caught my very first Pokémon".

Shawn picked up his pokeball and began spinning it on the tip of his finger, "Looks like we both won".

Kikyo turned to him, "Looks like it. So what should we do now?"

Shawn continued spinning the pokeball on his finger, "Head to the Pokémon Center to heal our new friends then get back to work".

On the way back into town Kikyo continued to gaze at the pokeball in her hand, "The first Pokémon I ever caught I'll never forget this day" that's when Izanami jumped up into her arms. Kikyo laughed, "Of course you'll always be my favorite".

Shawn was quiet on the way back to the Pokémon Center, but just like Kikyo he continued to stare at the pokeball which contained his new Pidgey.

"So should we name them?" Kikyo asked him.

Shawn lowered the pokeball in his hand and looked up to the morning sun, "Horus" he muttered.

"Horus?" Kikyo repeated as Shawn held the pokeball up to the sky, "The Egyptian god of the sky, war and protection?"

Shawn lowered the pokeball and smiled at her, "Pidgey's final evolution is Pidgeot and they are considered to be the masters of the sky".

Kikyo looked down at her pokeball again and then up to the sky, "Hmm…I think I'll go with Yuri".

"You're going to name a bird Lily?" Shawn asked her.

"Yeah, why not" Kikyo said as they entered the Pokémon Center and walked over to the nurse and after a short wait their new Pokémon were returned to them and they left.

"Shall we go back out?" Kikyo asked, "I'm getting pumped now and I want to catch more Pokémon".

Shawn chuckled at her enthusiasm, "You're pretty anxious to get back out there".

"Of course" Kikyo said jumping in front of him, "If I'm going to beat the Elite Four I'm going to need more than a two man team".

Shawn looked back out toward Route 7 and a big smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth, "Alright let's go".

Over the next few weeks the two friends went out day after day to train their Pokémon and capture new ones. Kikyo had managed to catch an Oddish which she nicknamed Gaia, giving her the third member of her team and Shawn managed to catch an Abra as it was sleeping. Abra were a common sight on route 7, but they were hard to catch because they would teleport away at the first sign of danger, but Shawn managed to get lucky and scored his third Pokémon.

Now armed with three Pokémon each the two of them returned to Erika at the Celadon Gym to tell her the good news.

"That's great" Erika said praising the two of them on their progress, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to come with you, but I've been busy here".

Kikyo smiled and shook her head, "No its ok…" she immediately fell silent and her smile faded a little, "We actually came here to tell you that we're leaving tomorrow to start our journey to entering the Pokémon League".

"Is that so?" Erika asked her seeing the looks in both of their eyes.

Shawn looked around the flower filled lobby of the gym, "Unfortunately you're still a little too strong for us to beat right now so we're going to head on to Cerulean City and challenge the gym leader there. From there we're going to hit the Pewter City Gym before doubling back and heading toward Vermillion".

Erika smiled at them, "Well it sounds like you've got it all worked out I wish you both luck".

Kikyo bowered her head to her, "Thank you Erika. We'll come back soon".

Erika returned Kikyo's gesture before a thought crossed her mind, "Could the two of you wait here for a moment?"

Kikyo and Shawn nodded and Erika turned around disappearing into the back room of the lobby. The two rookie trainers waited quietly for Erika to return.

"Sorry for the wait" the gym leader said returning to them with a medium sized bag, "I wanted to give you some supplies before you left".

Setting the bag on top of a table Erika opened it, "I want the two of you to have these to help you on your journey".

The bad contained multiple potions and heals as well as extra pokeballs for each of them.

"Thank you" Shawn said immediately looking up to her.

Erika nodded to him, "You're welcome Shawn use them well and come back to see me. Just be sure to keep each other safe out there".

"We will" Kikyo told her after she finished placing some of the supplies into her own bag, "And thank you".

Kikyo bowed her head to Erika one more time before turning to leave with Shawn behind her. Once they made it to the edge of the city they both stopped to take one last look before they left.

"This is it" Kikyo said with a determined smile, "I'm not coming back until I know I can beat her".

With their goals in mind and the open path before them the two rookie trainers set off for Cerulean City marking the official beginning of their journey to the Pokémon League.


	2. Cascade of Victory

"There it is" Shawn said as he stood at the top of a hill "Cerulean City".

Kikyo held a small guide book in her hand reading aloud the headline about Cerulean City, "A beautiful city with flowing water and blooming flowers".

Shawn held his hand over his eyes and scanned the city ahead of them, "Ah I can see the gym from here. If I'm not mistaken a girl named Misty who specializes in water Pokémon".

"Well what are we waiting for?" Kikyo asked him before looking down at Izanami, "What do you think Izanami? Shall we go win our very first gym battle?"

Izanami yipped and jumped into her arms making her trainer laugh.

Shawn looked down at Izanagi, "How about you Izzy? I think its time we made our names known".

Izanagi looked down at Cerulean City and gave and growled as Shawn looked back to Kikyo, "Well shall we?"

The two trainers and their Pokémon entered the city and immediately made their way to the Cerulean Gym to challenge the gym leader. Opening the doors to the gym they both went inside and were amazed to see that other than the spectators stands and the lobby area the entire gym was just a giant swimming pool with a walk way and two platforms for trainers to stand on when battling.

"Wow this is a really nice gym" Shawn said looking at the massive pool.

"Yeah" Kikyo agreed, "But it doesn't come close to Erika's gym".

Shawn laughed, "Maybe so. Anyway let's find Misty".

The two trainers searched the gym, but there was no one to be found including Misty, the entire gym was empty.

"There's no one here" Kikyo said returning to Shawn in the lobby area, "Should we wait?"

Shawn ran his fingers over his chin a few times while he though, "Maybe. I did find a couple of locked doors, probably a locker room and an office".

"So what should we do?" Kikyo asked him.

Shawn sighed before giving her a mischievous smile, "Well maybe we could go up to Cerulean Cape for a while I hear it a pretty popular spot".

Kikyo scoffed and looked away from him, "Nice try, but I've heard of Cerulean Cape to".

Shawn had a defeated smile on his face as he turned as walked out of the gym unaware that Kikyo was blushing.

Quickly composing herself Kikyo followed Shawn out of the gym and the two began walking around the city to pass the time. Despite Kikyo's early protests the two of them did wind up at Cerulean Cape while taking in the sights.

"And you said you didn't want to come here" Shawn said in a teasing, flirty tone.

"I was just following you" Kikyo said defensively.

"So you are into me?" Shawn asked her, "Then how come you never let me take you to dinner?"

Kikyo glared at him, "I just came out her to see the city from the cape that's it. It has nothing to do with how I feel about you".

"How you feel about me?" Shawn immediately asked, "I knew it! You are into me".

Kikyo blushed and quickly turned away from him, "I…I am not!"

"Then why aren't you looking at me?" he teased, "Blushing a little?" he asked keeping the teasing tone, "Heart racing a bit, knees started to feel weak".

Kikyo turned back to him still blushing and snapped, "I'm not looking at you because even though we're friends I can't stand you sometimes. You're easily the most narcissistic, annoying and…" Kikyo stopped and turned away from him, "Forget it" she said as she started walking away.

Shawn waited a few seconds before following after her, "Sorry I couldn't help myself" he said once he caught up to her.

Kikyo took a quick, deep breath and looked out to the city the view from the cape really was beautiful, "The view from here" she said quietly "It's amazing".

"Yeah it really is" Shawn said standing next to her, "Maybe we can just stay here for a while we can try the gym again later".

Kikyo tried to hide her smile, "Maybe next time let's try to find some Pokémon while we wait".

"Also a good idea" Shawn said sounding a little disappointed before he noticed something at the edge of the river below them.

Two people were fishing at the edge of the river. The first was a young man around the same age as Shawn and Kikyo; he had smooth black hair that reached down to his shoulders and he was wearing navy blue jeans with black and red shoes and a light blue shirt and there was a grey and blue striped zip up hoodie folded on the ground at his feet.

The girl next to him had dark orange hair with a side ponytail on the left side of her head; she was wearing what looked like a white one-piece swim suit with a dark blue trim and a white jacket over it she was also dark blue short jeans and white sandals.

"Looks like we're not the only couple here" he joked pointing the two of them out to Kikyo.

Kikyo sighed, "Ok first we are not a couple and second they could just be friends who really like fishing together".

"At the biggest dating spot in the entire city?" Shawn asked rhetorically.

"Hey I got something!" the boy yelled as he tugged at his fishing pole.

Shawn and Kikyo watched as the orange haired girl stepped out of the way to give her friend some room to reel in his catch.

"It's a fighter" the boy said before giving his rod one last jerk forcing the hooked Pokémon out of the water.

The Pokémon had a shell that was dark brown on the top and a pale yellow on the bottom its body was a light blue color with a tail that curled at the end and its head was completely rounded with large brown eyes.

"It's a Squirtle!" the girl gasped, "Try and catch it!"

The fishing rod's hook was snagged under the Squirtle's shell making it quite angry with the fisher who caught it.

The boy reached for the inside of his open hoodie and grabbed a pokeball, "I'm not going to pass up the chance to capture a Squirtle get ready" he said throwing the pokeball.

The thrown pokeball erupted in a bright light as it released the Pokémon inside it.

The Pokémon resembled a short, chubby mouse with yellow fur covering most of its body. It had two long pointed ears with black tips and two brown stripes on its back, its tail was in the shape of a lightning bolt and on its face were two round red patches.

Neither Shawn nor Kikyo had ever seen once up close, but they both recognized the Pokémon from books and TV shows they used to watch, a Pikachu.

"That's a Pikachu" Kikyo said as they watched the trainer below them prepare to battle the hooked Squirtle.

Shawn nodded, "An electric type against a water type, this will end quickly".

And just as he said the battle didn't last long the trainer opened up by ordering his Pikachu to use quick attack. The Squirtle was hit, but managed to withdraw into its shell to resist most of the damage, but as the shell was rolling away from the hit Pikachu was quickly ordered to use thundershock.

Even though the Squirtle was hiding in its shell the electric attack reached it coursing through the inside of the shell and shocking the Pokémon inside.

After the attack hit home the Squirtle came back out of its shell heavily damaged from those two hits. The tiny turtle stumbled around in an electrified daze as the orange haired girl cheered for her friend, "This is your chance Keith, catch it".

The male trainer reached into his hoodie again and grabbed another pokeball throwing it at the injured Squirtle capturing it. Walking over to the pokeball he scooped it into his hands and held it out to his friend as if he was showing off to her, "Looks like I win".

The girl giggled as she clapped her hands, "Great job Keith".

The boy named Keith chuckled as he placed the pokeball inside his hoodie, "Thank you looks like I'm the winner today which means you have to let me take you to dinner".

The girl blushed and smiled shyly as she looked back at the city across the river, "Why don't we just stay here and watch the sun set over the city?"

"That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea" Shawn said looking over to Kikyo, "Sitting at the edge of the river and watching the sun set over the city".

Kikyo didn't respond to him, but there was a clear look in her eyes that showed she was definitely imagining the scenario in her head.

Shawn smiled at her as he stretched his arms back, "Maybe after we conquer the Pokémon League we can come back here, what do you think?"

Kikyo gave him a slight smile, "Sounds good".

"Should we check the gym again?" he asked her, "It's been a while".

Kikyo nodded and the two of them left calling to their Eevee's that were playing under a tree a few yards behind them. Returning to the Cerulean Gym the two of them entered as the sun began setting to find that it was still empty deciding to head to the Pokémon Center the two trainers decided to rest for the night and try the gym again the next day.

Kikyo awoke from her sleep and slowly sat up, it was still dark outside so she checked her watch it was currently 3:20 AM. Lying back down the rookie trainer stared at the blank ceiling for what felt like an hour before she decided she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.

Slowly getting out of bed she looked at Shawn who was still asleep with his back to her. Quickly changing out of her dark green night gown and into her street clothes she quietly called to Izanami and left the room with her Eevee behind her.

Stepping outside the Pokémon Center, Kikyo took a quick breath before she began walking. Returning to Cerulean Cape she stopped at the edge of the hill where she was with Shawn earlier. Sitting on the ground she let Izanami jump into her lap and stared out at the city, "It really is an amazing view from out here" she said.

Izanami's ear perked up and she jumped out of Kikyo's lap, raising her tail she began looking around.

"What is it Izanami?" Kikyo asked before hearing rustling noises from behind the tree lines.

Quickly reaching to the side of her belt Kikyo clasped her hand around one of her pokeballs and waited in suspense as the rustling sounds stopped, but Izanami was still staring at the tree line signaling that there was still something there.

"Whoever you are come out" Kikyo demanded.

The rustling began again and someone slowly stepped out, "Sorry" he began as he cleared the trees and stepped into the moonlight, "I didn't think anyone else would be out here".

Even in the moonlight Kikyo recognized the person in front of her it was the same boy she and Shawn saw earlier.

Kikyo relaxed, but kept her guard up as Izanami backed into her keeping a warning pose, "Its ok Izanami" Kikyo said kneeling down and rubbing the Pokémon's head.

"Hold on" the boy said, "You're that girl that was spying on me and Misty earlier".

Kikyo was unsure what he meant at first, but quickly realized and apologized, "Sorry we weren't spying on you we just happened to hear you shouting that you caught something and watched you catch that Squirtle".

"No harm done I guess" he said before looking at Izanami, "An Eevee. Those are a pretty rare sight".

Kikyo picked up Izanami and smiled, rubbing her head again, "This is Izanami she's my first Pokémon".

"Is she you're only Pokémon?" the boy asked.

Kikyo shook her head, "No I've got two others".

The boy nodded before turning around and looking at the trees, "What's your name?" he asked turning back to her, "I'm Keith Yamato".

"Kikyo Halberg. I'm from Celadon City".

"Well it's nice to meet you" Keith said before looking back to the trees again.

"Are you expecting something to happen?" Kikyo asked him, "You keep looking at the trees".

Keith looked back to her again, "Actually yes, recently the Beedrill in the woods have become really aggressive and have started attacking everything in their way. That's actually why I'm out here".

"So you're investigating" Kikyo said before stepping closer to him, "From what I hear Beedrill can be pretty dangerous in a swarm should you really be out here by yourself?"

Keith nodded his head to the side, "I grew up in Cerulean City I know every inch of the city and these woods like the back of my hand".

"So you know where the Beedrill make their nests?" Kikyo asked him to which he nodded, "Even if that's the case there's safety in numbers and searching at night is dangerous even if you are familiar with the terrain".

As Kikyo finished speaking a distant, thundering sound echoed from the opposite end of the woods.

"What was that?" Kikyo asked before another distant echo reached them from the same place.

Keith placed his hand around his chin, "I don't like this" he said as a third echo was heard, "If that's coming from the side of the woods that faces the mountains it could be what's causing the Beedrill to become so aggressive".

"The side of the woods that faces the mountains" Kikyo repeated to herself, "If the Beedrill make their nests out there the noise could definitely be what's disturbing them, but what's loud enough to echo this far out?"

"There's only a few things I can think of" Keith began before coming to a realization, "No one would be that stupid would they?" he muttered as a fourth echo reached them. "Kikyo you need to go back into town now" he said before running back into the woods.

"Hey wait!" Kikyo called after him, but he was already gone. "He says he knows the area, but will he be alright on his own?"

Hearing a sixth echo Kikyo reached down to her belt and grabbed one of her pokeballs, "Yuri!" she yelled as she threw the ball into the air.

The ball opened in a burst of light releasing the Pokémon inside. The Pidgey flew down to its trainer and hovered at eye level.

Kikyo looked at her Pokémon and pointed back to the city, "Yuri go to the Pokémon Center. Shawn is sleeping in a room on the second floor wake him up and bring him out here I might need his help".

Yuri flew off back toward the Pokémon Center leaving Kikyo behind, taking a quick breath she looked at Izanami, "Izanami let's go".

Kikyo ran into the woods to follow after Keith with Izanami right behind her. Pushing through the bushes and ducking under branches she called out Keith's name several times before something grabbed her from behind a tree and pulled her back.

Kikyo turned around and swung at whoever was holding her only to have her arm blocked and her mouth covered. Kikyo began struggling against whoever was holding her she tried screaming, but her covered mouth muffled her cries.

"Stop struggling its me" Keith's voice whispered to her. Quickly releasing her Keith told her to keep her voice down as she turned to face him.

"What the hell are you doing?" she whispered to him.

"I can ask you the same thing" he whispered back, "I told you to go back into town".

"And I told you there's safety in numbers" she fired back, "Even if you know the area if those Beedrill start attacking you'll be in real danger".

"I can handle it" Keith told her just as another echo roared through the forest, "Look I appreciate your concern, but you really need to get back now".

A flash of orange and red light ripped through the darkness near them quickly accompanied by a mass collection of buzzing noises.

"That doesn't sound good" Kikyo muttered before flash of light appeared.

Keith stepped in front of her, "Let's go, but stay behind me".

Kikyo nodded, "Fine, but let's hurry".

The two trainers quickly made their way through the trees and into a clearing where a swarm of Beedrill were surrounding a single Pokémon that resembled an Orange bipedal lizard with short arms and legs and a long tail with a burning flame at the end.

"Is that a Charmander?" Kikyo asked seeing the surrounded Pokémon.

Keith growled as he noticed a small purple spot on the side of the Charmander's body, "We have to help it, it's been poisoned".

The surrounded Charmander narrowed its eyes glaring at the Beedrill surrounding it, rearing its head back as the flame at the end of its tail burned brightly. Flames erupted through the Pokémon's mouth as it lunged forward exhaling a wide cone of intense flames at the Beedrill.

Several of the Beedrills were caught in the flames and fell to the ground, but a few of them attacked from the sides hitting the Charmander with their large needle arms. The Charmander attempted to evade the attacks, but the poison it was suffering from had taken a great toll slowing it down. The needles found their target and with a single pass the Charmander was knocked to the ground and the remaining Beedrill closed in on it.

"We have to do something!" Keith growled reaching for one of his pokeballs. "Alright Pikachu let's go" he whispered as he stood up, but Kikyo pulled him back down.

"Wait a second" she said yanking his arm, "They're too close to the Charmander you could hit it to".

"We can't just sit here" he whispered angrily.

"Catch it" she told him, "It's really weak right now so just try and catch it. If you catch it then they can't attack it after it's inside the pokeball then we clear out the Beedrill".

Keith sighed, "Alright, but we do it together".

Reaching for one of his empty pokeballs Keith quickly stepped to the side to get a clear shot at the Charmander, "Alright here it goes" he whispered before standing up and throwing the pokeball past the Beedrill and hitting the weakened Charmander.

The pokeball opened after hitting the weakened Pokémon sucking it inside temporarily keeping it safe from the Beedrill.

"Alright go!" Kikyo yelled as she jumped out from her hiding place and threw out a pokeball, "Gaia go, use stun spore!"

Kikyo's pokeball opened summoning her Oddish which jumped up in the center of the Beedrill swarm and spun in a circle as a cloud of yellow spores were scattered around. After the stun spore cloud was dispersed through the swarm of Beedrill they began falling to the ground trying to fight against the paralyzing effects of the attack giving Keith his opening to rush in and grab the pokeball he used to catch the Charmander.

"I got it" he yelled back to Kikyo.

"Alright let's get out of here" she called back to him recalling her Oddish.

Both of them retreated back into the woods before the Beedrill recovered from their paralysis.

"Nice job back there" Keith said as they ran through the trees, "You can think on your feet I like that".

"Thanks" Kikyo said as they escaped the woods and returned to Cerulean Cape as a Pidgey flew over to Kikyo "Yuri you're back".

"Yuri?" Keith asked before someone called Kikyo's name.

"Shawn" Kikyo called back seeing her friend running over to her.

"What happened?" he asked stopping in front of her.

Kikyo took a moment to catch her breath before she began explaining everything that had happened from what Keith told her about the Beedrill becoming strangely aggressive to them going into the woods to investigate and finally saving the Charmander and retreating.

"Are you ok?" Shawn asked her to which Kikyo nodded, "What were you thinking?" he half yelled, "Coming out here at night is dangerous".

"I'm fine" she said to him, "I had Izanami with me and Keith was here to help to".

Shawn resigned his argument even though he didn't agree with her being out there without him, "Just promise me you'll let me know before you do something like that next time".

Kikyo apologized to him and looked to Keith, "Follow us back to the Pokémon Center I have some supplies that can help Charmander".

"Or we could just wake the nurse" Sawn suggested, "She does work and live at the Center if it's really that injured then it qualifies as an emergency".

"Either way we should get back into town" Keith told them, "The Beedrill rarely come this far from their nests, but if they do I don't want to be here".

The three trainers returned back to the city and its Pokémon Center deciding not to wake the nurse and treat the injured Charmander themselves. Kikyo returned to the room she was sharing with Shawn to grab her bag while Shawn and Keith waited in the Center's lobby. Once Kikyo returned to the lobby Keith called out the Charmander they saved which immediately collapsed still feeling the effects from the poison and injuries it sustained.

Kikyo kneeled down next to the Pokémon with an antidote and potion in her hand, "Hey" she gently said to it, "I know you're probably scared, but I'm here to help you" she showed it the items in her hands, "This is medicine it's going to sting a bit, but it will make you feel better".

Kikyo reached out to spray the antidote on the Charmander which backed away from her; it was badly injured so it was understandable if it didn't trust any of them.

"Its ok" she said to it, "I'm not going to hurt you I just want to help".

The Charmander tried to back away further, but it was too hurt and tired to keep moving.

"Just give it the medicine already" Shawn told her.

"I can't just give it the medicine" Kikyo told him, "It's scared and the medicine is going to sting when I apply it I don't want tit to be even more afraid than it is already".

Kikyo set the two bottles on the floor and slowly reached her empty hand over to the Charmander, "Its ok" she said gently placing her hand on its head and rubbing it, "I promise I'm not going to hurt you ok".

The Charmander's body was tense, but it could sense that Kikyo was sincere. The injured Pokémon relaxed and closed its eyes as she began applying the antidote to the infected area before spraying the potion onto its injuries. The Charmander twitched and jerked part of its body when the potion was sprayed on, but remained relaxed while Kikyo treated it.

"There you go" she said once she finished treating it, "All done. That wasn't so bad was it?"

The Charmander slowly stood up on its hind legs and even though it was still weak it seemed happy and grateful. Slowly the Charmander walked over to Kikyo and licked the side of her face as a sign of affection.

Kikyo giggled as it licked her, "I'm happy that you're ok, but you know I'm not the one who caught you right?" the Charmander looked up to her as she pointed to Keith, "He's the one who caught you. He did it to save you from the Beedrill".

Keith held his hand up and introduced himself to the Charmander which seemed confused, but it did walk over to him and curl up next to him. Keith looked over to Kikyo and thanked her for her help in the woods and for helping Charmander before he returned it to its pokeball and said goodnight to them.

Just before he left Kikyo stood up and called to him, "Hold on. When we met outside the woods you said something. You said that I was the girl who was spying on you and Misty did you mean the Cerulean Gym Leader?"

"Yeah I did" Keith replied turning back to them, "Misty and I have been friends since we were kids...Do you plan on challenging her?"

Kikyo nodded, "We do. Both Shawn and I came here to challenge her. We want to enter the Pokémon League and challenge the Elite Four".

Shawn was still sitting down, "And to do that we need to obtain the Cascade badge".

Keith looked out the window, there was a small crack of light across the horizon meaning the sun was starting to rise, "Misty is far from an easy opponent to beat, but I'll let her know she has a couple of challengers. Come to the gym around noon I'm sure she'll be ready for you".

Keith left the Pokémon Center and returned home to get some sleep, cueing Shawn and Kikyo to do the same.

When morning came the two trainers left the Pokémon Center and returned to the gym to find Keith waiting for them in the lobby with Misty next to him.

"Welcome" she said to them as they entered, "I am Misty, leader of the Cerulean gym. Keith tells me the two of you wish to challenge me".

Both of them nodded and Misty continued, "Very well I never turn away a challenger please follow me".

Leading both of them into the battle area of the gym which was just a large indoor swimming pool Misty pointed the two platforms at either end of the pool, "We will be standing on those platforms our Pokémon will battle in the pool. The platforms in the water are for your Pokémon to battle on if you don't have any that can swim".

"Water types" Shawn said, "The large pool gives you a distinct advantage. Then again gym battles are supposed to challenge the trainers" he looked to Kikyo, "So who goes first?"

"No need to decide who challenges me first" Misty told them, "I will face both of you at the same time in a double battle".

Shawn objected to the idea, "I don't like it. I'm sure you're very skilled as a trainer, but I don't like the idea of fighting two on one".

Misty laughed at his objection, "Trust me I can handle myself" she began walking to the opposite side of the pool as she explained how the battle would work, "This will be a two on two battle. Both of you will choose a single Pokémon each and use them against my two. There will be no substituting your chosen Pokémon if you recall it you must withdraw from the battle, any questions?"

Kikyo and Shawn both walked over to their platform, "What combination should we use?"

"Well grass types are strong against water Pokémon so your Oddish would be a good choice".

"We have no idea how strong her Pokémon our compared to ours so Gaia may not be strong enough".

"Gaia?" he asked her.

"Oh right" Kikyo said, "I never told you I gave Oddish a nickname".

"Fine whatever I'm not really big on strategy so what do you think?"

Kikyo thought for a moment as she surveyed the surroundings, "Well the water is clear so we'll be able to see her Pokémon even if they go under. If they're entirely water based like a Goldeen we could gain an advantage if we could force it out of the water entirely".

"Taking a moment to make a plan?" Misty asked them, "Just let me know when you're ready".

Shawn and Kikyo decided to take their chances and sent out their Pokémon.

"We're ready" Kikyo called to her.

"Excellent" Misty called back as she took two of her pokeballs and threw them in the air above the pool, "Then let's begin!"

The pokeballs opened releasing Misty's Pokémon a Staryu and its evolved form Starmie.

"A Staryu and Starmie huh?" Shawn muttered, "Then we'll see how this does, Abra go!"

Kikyo summoned her Pokémon right after him, "Gaia go!"

The Pokémon were all summoned and the battle was ready to begin, Misty with her Staryu and Starmie against Kikyo's Oddish and Shawn's Abra.

"Alright let's do this" Shawn yelled, "Abra use teleport go to the other platform".

Abra was slowly rocking back and forth until Shawn issued his command to it; slowly Abra opened its eyes and used its psychic power to teleport to the platform on Misty's side of the field.

"That anxious to get beat are you?" Misty asked him, "Fine by me, Staryu use rapid spin on Abra!"

Staryu erupted from the water spinning at a high speed as it turned and zoomed toward Abra.

"Get ready Kikyo" Shawn yelled, "Abra use teleport bring Staryu back to this side of the field!"

Abra opened its eyes again and teleported along with Staryu back to other side of the field allowing Kikyo's Oddish to attack.

Once Abra brought Staryu to their side of the field Kikyo issued her order to her Oddish, "Gaia quick use sleep powder!"

Oddish bowed down and began shaking its body releasing a small cloud of green pollen that fell over Staryu forcing it into a deep sleep.

"Oh no Staryu" Misty yelled as Shawn ordered his Abra to teleport itself and Gaia back to Misty's side of the field.

"Starmie hit them from under the water, use water pulse!"

Starmie remained under water and its second set of arms began spinning as it shot a forceful pulse through the water causing the water to shoot out in the shape of rings heading right for Abra and Gaia.

Both Kikyo and Shawn ordered their Pokémon to evade the attack, Oddish jumped back and Abra teleported back to the other platform where Misty's Staryu was still out.

With the Pokémon separated from each other Misty saw her opening and ordered her Starmie to attack Gaia, "Starmie use rapid spin, knock Oddish into the water!"

Starmie erupted from the water spinning at a high speed just like Staryu did, but just like last time Shawn's quick thinking allowed him to save Kikyo's Oddish, "Abra quick use teleport get Gaia out of the way".

Kikyo waited for Abra to return to Gaia's side before telling it to use stun spore just as Abra used teleport again to get them out of Starmie's way.

Both Abra and Oddish returned to their side of the field as Starmie flew through the stun spore cloud becoming paralyzed and falling back into the water.

Watching from the sidelines, Keith was at the edge of his seat in mere moments Kikyo and Shawn had managed to gain an advantage and immobilized both of Misty's Pokémon. Is it possible that these two could beat her?

"Alright Starmie is out of the equation" Shawn said, "Let's finish off Staryu before it wakes up".

Kikyo nodded, "Gaia use absorb on Staryu, drain its health".

Gaia hopped over to the sleeping Staryu and touched the leaves on top of its head to its jewel core and began draining away its health.

As Gaia was draining away Staryu's health Misty called for it to wake up, but to no avail. As Gaia continued to drain more and more health from Staryu the jewel at its core began flashing becoming dimmer and dimmer.

Looking back at the water Misty saw Starmie rotating its arms again and smirked, "Starmie hit them now go bubblebeam!"

Starmie erupted from the water once again hovering in the air for a short time as it fired its bubblebeam attack at the two opposing Pokémon forcing them to evade.

Abra teleported out of the way and Gaia jumped to the side just as Staryu woke up. With Staryu awake again Kikyo ordered Gaia to use sleep powder on it again, but Starmie ran interference with rapid spin knocking it into the water.

Gaia began helplessly splashing around to keep itself from drowning, Misty ordered her Staryu to use recover to regain its lost health. Staryu's body began glowing and its jewel core began glowing brighter as its health was restored.

While Staryu was recovering Shawn ordered Abra to us teleport to save Gaia. Abra quickly teleported into the water and returned to the platform on Misty's side of the pool with Gaia next to it.

Kikyo thanked Shawn for the quick save before looking at Misty's Starmie, "Why isn't it paralyzed? It flew right through Gaia's stun spore".

Misty laughed as she explained it to them, "Ha are you a little confused? When Starmie fell back into the water it washed away the stun spore before it could fully take effect". Smiling at them Misty praised their teamwork before claiming that the battle was over.

"Staryu use swift, Starmie use water pulse". The two star shaped Pokémon fired their attacks at Abra and Gaia who were stuck on the opposite platform.

Abra could easily teleport out of the way of the attack with Gaia, but that would put them right next to both of Misty's Pokémon leaving them open to a close range rapid spin and Shawn knew, but if there was no way either of them could take those hits without being knocked back into the water.

Shawn gritted his teeth before Kikyo yelled, "Shawn teleport over to them now, Gaia use sleep powder!"

Hearing Kikyo's orders Shawn commanded Abra to teleport once again as Gaia began shaking its body back and forth releasing another cloud of green powder as the two of them were teleported back to Misty's Pokémon, but the gym leader had planned for this.

"Staryu, Starmie use rapid spin get out of the way!"

Both Staryu and Starmie began spinning as they flew out of the way of Gaia's sleep powder attack evading it completely before turning back around and knocking both of them into the water.

Shawn ordered Abra to teleport both of them out of the water, but once it did Misty ordered both her Pokémon to attack both the platforms just as Abra began its teleport ensuring that regardless of which platform it went to they would be hit.

And sure enough Abra appeared right in front of Starmie's swift attack knocking Abra back into the water and leaving Gaia unguarded.

Shawn yelled for Abra to teleport out of the water, but it didn't respond. Shawn called to it again as it began sinking into the water forcing him to recall it and withdrawing him from the match.

With Abra out of the way, Misty ordered both her Pokémon to attack Gaia with rapid spin and with those last attacks Gaia was knocked into the water as well securing Misty's victory or so she thought.

In one last act of desperation Kikyo ordered Gaia to duck and use sleep powder as the two star Pokémon flew toward her.

Gaia ducked down and began shaking its body releasing its powder attack for a third time waiting for the opposing Pokémon to pass through it.

Misty quickly ordered her Pokémon to turn away from the powder, Starmie was able to get out of the way, but Staryu passed through the cloud and fell asleep. Still spinning as it passed through the sleep powder Staryu flew right into the wall of the gym suffering heavy damage from the impact.

Misty ordered Starmie to attack Gaia again, but it was no where to be seen.

"Where did it go?" Misty wondered quickly looking around. Gaia wasn't in the water or on either of the platforms so where did it disappear to?

Kikyo smirked before she yelled, "Gaia use absorb on Staryu!"

Misty gasped and looked over to her Staryu as Gaia landed next to it and began draining its health again. Seeing the intense damage Staryu had suffered from flying into the wall and since absorb is a grass type move it was dealing double damage to Staryu, but before she could recall it the light of its jewel core faded entirely taking it out of the battle.

Misty recalled Staryu and looked at Kikyo, "How did you do that?"

Kikyo smiled at her, "When I ordered Gaia to duck and use sleep powder I figured you would try to avoid the attack so I waited for you to tell your Pokémon to evade and once you did I ordered Gaia to jump right as Staryu was about to pass over her".

Misty mentally scolded herself; she took her eyes off of Gaia as Starmie turned away from the sleep powder so she never saw Gaia jump.

Kikyo continued, "Gaia landed on Staryu right as it passed through the cloud and jumped again right before it slammed into the wall" she paused to smile, "Now Staryu is out of the battle and Gaia is back to full health".

Misty wasn't the only one who was impressed by Kikyo's quick thinking from the sidelines Keith and even Shawn who had known Kikyo since they were both kids were amazed at how quickly Kikyo came up with a such a plan under pressure.

Misty was still in shock, but she managed to smile, "Not bad at all truly an impressive strategy you came up with, but don't think you've won this yet. Starmie use swift!"

"Gaia jump into the air spin and use poison powder!"

Starmie's back arms began spinning in a circle and began firing star shaped projectiles from its jewel core. As Starmie fired, Gaia jumped into the air and started spinning releasing another cloud of powder, but this one was purple and was much more dangerous than the other two attacks it used before.

Starmie tilted back as Gaia jumped still hitting it with its swift attack, but the poison cloud still fell around it. Her Starmie now suffering from poison Misty ordered it to dive into the water to wash it off, but Kikyo ordered Gaia to jump up and tackle it to keep it from retreating. As Starmie began its dive, Gaia jumped and rammed into it immediately receiving the order to use absorb.

Once it rammed into Starmie, Gaia touched its leaves to its jewel core and began draining its health and even though they were only touching for a second it was enough to add to the damage it suffered from the poison.

Gaia's tackle managed to force Starmie off its course and kept it out of the water for now, but Kikyo was going to have to come up with something quick if she wanted to win.

"Gaia quick, close in on Starmie don't let it get back to the water!"

Misty ordered Starmie to use recover as Gaia jumped back over to the platform in the water.

"Gaia, use absorb again".

Once again Gaia touched its leaves to Starmie's core as it was trying to recover its lost health, but between Gaia's drain and the poison it was losing too much to much for it to restore and Misty knew it. Misty had to change her tactics she ordered Starmie to stop using recover and use rapid spin to knock Gaia away. Hearing Misty's order to her Pokémon, Kikyo commanded Gaia to jump and avoid Starmie's attack.

Gaia jumped up as Starmie began spinning successfully avoiding its attack, but allowing it to dive back into the water. With Starmie back in the water and safe from Gaia, Misty ordered it to use recover again, but Kikyo wasn't going to let it get away, "Gaia dive in after it don't let it use recover!"

"Why would she order it to dive in?" Keith muttered to himself from the sidelines, "Oddish aren't very good at swimming add to it its now in Misty's territory so it can just zoom by and..." Keith's eyes widened as he realized what Kikyo was planning.

Watching Gaia dive into the water Misty began wondering the same thing, why would Kikyo willing send her only Pokémon into an environment where it can't fight back?

"It doesn't matter" she said to herself, "Starmie is too damaged for me to let this opportunity go to waste" she looked down at her Starmie and ordered it to use rapid spin and attack the sinking Gaia.

Waiting for Starmie to begin spinning Kikyo yelled for Gaia to start spinning as well and use poison powder again.

The spinning Starmie glided toward Gaia while it was releasing its poison powder throughout the water and since it was spinning it slowed its descent through the water and Starmie's rapid spin attack caused the poison powder to be dispersed throughout the entire pool poisoning the water. Seeing the poison spread to the entire pool Misty cried for Starmie to escape the water immediately which it did, but when it emerged from the water Gaia was using its leaves to hold onto it as it flew through the water and both of them landed on the walkway outside the pool.

"Yes!" Kikyo cheered when she saw Gaia holding on to Starmie.

"But how?" Misty gasped.

"Don't you know?" Kikyo asked her, "The number one instinct for all living things including Pokémon is survival, so since Gaia can't swim its only way out of the water was to hitch a ride on Starmie".

"But when did you tell it to do that?" Misty asked her.

"I didn't" Kikyo admitted, "Didn't you hear me? Survival is the number one instinct for all living creatures, from plants to humans and even Pokémon. So I just had faith in Gaia's natural instinct to survive knowing that it would latch onto Starmie as it passed by her" Kikyo smiled at Misty, "And now that she's out of the water and you can no longer retreat into it".

Misty gasped when she finally realized what was going on.

Kikyo raised her hand, "Gaia use absorb one more time, drain what's left of Starmie's health!"

Gaia ran over to the injured Starmie and touched its leaves to its jewel core draining its health.

Starmie's jewel core was already flashing at a rapid pace signaling that it was heavily damaged and even with recover it was losing too much health to replace it.

Misty closed her eyes with a defeated smile, "Between the poison and absorb there's too much damage for Starmie to recover from. Starmie is too damaged to escape and even if it could the water is contaminated so there's no where to go" opening her eyes she held out her pokeball and recalled Starmie and conceded the match.

Kikyo's eyes widened and a big smile crept across her face before she jumped up and cheered, "Yes! I did it! I won my first gym battle!"

At the side of the pool Gaia was sharing its trainer's joy, happily jumping back and forth between its two legs. At the sidelines neither Keith nor Shawn could believe what they just saw, outnumbered 2 to 1 Kikyo managed to turn the battle around and force Misty on the defensive and when Starmie tried to escape into the only safe place for it Kikyo ordered Gaia to follow it, leaving it completely vulnerable and fooling Misty to attack again only to assist in contaminating the entire pool. And when Starmie escaped the poisoned water the poison had taken a heavy toll on it leaving it too weakened to escape from Gaia's final attack sealing Kikyo's victory.

Kikyo stepped off her platform just as Shawn ran over to her, "Kikyo" he gasped "That…that was…" he was at a loss for words at how the battle turned, stopping to take a breath, "That was unbelievable you were amazing!"

Kikyo could barely contain her own excitement as her Eevee Izanami ran over to her and jumped into her arms. Kikyo giggled as Izanami jumped into her arms, "Izanami I did it isn't that great?"

Izanami yipped happily as Gaia ran over to them and also jumped into Kikyo's arms who laughed again, "Gaia you were amazing I love you!"

While Shawn and Kikyo were celebrating Misty had walked over to them and held out her hand, in it were two Cascade badges proof of their victory, "Congratulations you earned them".

Kikyo gladly took the badge from Misty's hand and thanked her as she continued celebrating with her two Pokémon.

Misty smiled and looked at Shawn who didn't take his, "Is something wrong?" she asked him.

Shawn shook his head, "I don't deserve it" he said, "I didn't beat you Kikyo did. Even if we battled as a team I was the first one to be knocked out" he backed away from her, "Sorry, but until I beat you myself I haven't earned anything".

"Shawn" Kikyo muttered, but he shook his head.

Shawn kept a firm gaze as he looked Misty directly in her eyes, "I'll challenge you again tomorrow once we've both had a chance to let our Pokémon rest until then…"

Shawn stopped when the echoing screams of people outside could be heard.

"What's going on?" Kikyo wondered.

"Misty let's go" Keith said immediately running for the lobby and the doors of the gym.

Misty, Kikyo and Shawn followed after him and once they got outside they saw the people of the city running around in a panic, "Look!" Misty gasped, pointing toward the river.

A massive swarm of Beedrill was flying around part of the city, diving in and out of the streets as people screamed.

"Over there!" Keith yelled pointing out another swarm of Beedrill that was flying above the Pokémon Center.

"They're everywhere!" Kikyo gasped.

"What the hell is going on?" Shawn growled.

"It doesn't matter" Misty told them as she ran toward the swarm near the Pokémon Center.

Kikyo called out to Misty, but Keith stepped in front of her, "Kikyo go with Misty, Shawn come with me, whatever's going on we have to put an end to it!"

Keith ran off leaving Shawn and Kikyo alone, the two trainers looked at each other, "Be safe" Shawn said before looking down at Izanagi, "Izanagi let's go!"

Watching Shawn and Izanagi run after Keith, Kikyo looked down at Gaia and Izanami, "Alright you two we've got work to do you ready?"

Both of her Pokémon nodded at her and the three of them began running over to the Pokémon Center to help Misty stop the attacking Beedrill.

* * *

**A/N **And there's chapter 2 I really hope you all enjoyed it. I put a lot of thought into this chapter and it ended up being one of my longest chapters ever.

Here we see Kikyo meet a new trainer named Keith who turns out to be childhood friends with Cerulean Gym Leader Misty. Kikyo helps Keith save a Charmander from rampaging Beedrill before going to challenge Misty herself in a double battle with Shawn as her teammate. And even though Shawn was forced to withdraw from the battle Kikyo managed to formulate an elaborate strategy and claim her victory and her first gym badge, but now there's an army of Beedrill attacking the city can they all save the city and find out what would cause so many Beedrill to become so hostile?

Find out next time in chapter 3, Raging Waters.


	3. Raging Waters

"Misty wait" Kikyo yelled running after her.

"We don't have time to wait" Misty told her, "We have to stop those Beedrill".

"I know that" Kikyo told her, "But your Pokémon are badly damaged have the Pokémon Center heal them as an emergency, I'll hold off the Beedrill until you get back".

Misty didn't want to leave her to fight alone, but she knew she was right. Their gym battle left both of her Pokémon extremely damaged and there was no way they'd be able to handle this many Beedrill all at once.

"Alright I'll be back" Misty told her, "Just be careful".

Kikyo nodded as Misty ran for the Pokémon Center. "Gaia, Izanami you two ready?"

Both her Eevee and Oddish nodded before running forward as Kikyo threw a pokeball in the air, "Yuri!" she cried as the ball opened releasing the Pidgey inside.

Yuri flew down to Kikyo and landed on her shoulder, "Yuri I want you to fly around the area, stay low, but if you see the Beedrill go to attack anyone I want you to use gust to knock them away. Keep the people safe".

Yuri nodded its tiny head and flew off to try and help the people running away from the attacking Beedrill. After Yuri left Kikyo gave her orders to Izanami and Gaia as well.

"Izanami try and draw as many Beedrill as you can over here. If you can provoke them they'll come after you and that will allow the people to get to safety".

"Gaia I want you to do the same when they dive down to attack you release you're stun spore if they're paralyzed they can't attack".

Both Izanami and Gaia ran off to engage the Beedrill leaving Kikyo alone while Misty entered the Pokémon Center.

Barging into the Pokémon Center, Misty rushed over to the counter, "I need my Pokémon healed immediately".

The nurse apologized to her, but there were many people and Pokémon alike all of them injured and in need of desperate attention.

"I understand that" Misty told her, "But I can't stop the Beedrill without my Pokémon and they're badly injured from a recent battle at the gym I need them healed please".

The nurse knew how desperate the situation was and agreed to restore Misty's Pokémon. With her Pokémon restored, Misty thanked the nurse before rushing back outside to assist Kikyo in defending the city.

Once she was back outside Misty saw an Eevee with a group of four Beedrill following it. "Alright time to join in" she said throwing both of her pokeballs out, "Staryu, Starmie use bubblebeam!"

Both Staryu and Starmie emerged from their pokeballs and fired a bubblebeam attack at the Beedrill chasing the Eevee just as it stopped and used sand-attack to blind its pursuers.

"Misty!" Kikyo called running over to her.

Misty turned around to see Kikyo rushing toward her, "Hey sorry I took so long" she smiled.

Kikyo smiled back at her, "Izanami are you ok?" she asked quickly looking to her Eevee. Izanami ran back to Kikyo's side, "Ok Misty, are you ready?" Kikyo asked her.

Misty nodded, "Yeah let's end this quickly. Staryu use swift, Starmie bubblebeam".

"Wait" Kikyo cried, "Called off the attack I have an idea".

"I hope it's a good one we have to do something now" Misty said ordering both of her Pokémon to stand down.

Kikyo yelled for Gaia and Yuri to return to her side and then looked at Misty, "I'm going to have Izanami and Yuri draw the Beedrill over here. When they do I'm going to tell Gaia to use stun spore at that point have both of your Pokémon stand behind her and use rapid spin they'll act as fans".

"And blow the stun spore cloud directly into the Beedrill" Misty said after realizing her plan.

Kikyo nodded, "Exactly get ready cause here comes Gaia and Yuri".

Kikyo's Pidgey and Oddish returned to her side and waited for her to tell them the plan.

"Yuri, Izanami" she began looking at her Pokémon I need both of you to draw and many of the Beedrill here as you can. Do whatever you have to, but make them come here, go".

Yuri and Izanami took off to attract the Beedrill swarms leaving Kikyo to give Gaia her commands, "Gaia we're going to wait here for them to come back when they do Staryu and Starmie are going to stand behind you and use rapid spin at that point I want you to release your stun spore got it?"

Gaia hopped up and down showing that it understood the plan, "Good" Kikyo said before picking Gaia up and it stand on her shoulder, "Alright Gaia hold on" she said before she ran over to the Pokémon Center and used the roof access ladder to climb to its roof telling Misty to follow her.

Following Misty to the roof of the Pokémon Center she watched Yuri leading a Beedrill swarm around, "I hope you know what you're doing Kikyo".

"So do I" Kikyo said as she told Gaia where to stand and then telling Misty where to set Staryu and Starmie.

The two of them kept a close eye on the Beedrill swarm as they began chasing both Yuri and Izanami leading them toward the Pokémon Center.

"Alright here we go" Misty said as they got closer, but Kikyo told her to wait.

"Not yet" Kikyo told her, "Let them get closer".

"Why?" Misty asked "They're close enough".

"No" Kikyo told her, "If we act now they'll avoid it let them get closer".

Misty wanted to end it now, but she also heard the confidence in Kikyo's voice the trainer who defeated her not even an hour ago.

"Alright" she said decided to trust her, "Just tell use when".

"Trust me" Kikyo said as Izanami and Yuri continued leading the Beedrill toward them.

"Wait for it" Kikyo said as they turned down the same street as the Pokémon Center, "Wait for it…Wait for it".

The Beedrill swarm continued to draw closer and closer, Misty began shaking nervously waiting for the dangerous swarm to reach them, "Now!" Kikyo yelled ordering Gaia to release its stun spore attack.

Gaia began shaking its body releasing the yellow spore cloud. Kikyo turned to Izanami and Yuri and ordered both of them to use sand-attack on the swarm chasing them while Misty told her Staryu and Starmie to use rapid spin.

Izanami slid to a stop and began kicking up the dirt around her as Yuri flapped her wings to kick up even more. The dirt and dust quickly formed into a cloud that flew right into the Beedrill just as Gaia's stun spore did blinding and paralyzing them.

The swarm of Beedrill suffered the full effects of the stun spore attack, all of them dropping out of the air and to the ground.

After the Beedrill swarm fell Kikyo darted her hand to her belt and retrieved one of her pokeballs, "You're mine!" she claimed throwing the pokeball at one of the paralyzed Beedrill catching it.

After her pokeball stopped shaking Kikyo asked Yuri to retrieve it as she and Misty climbed down while everyone began coming out of their hiding places now that the attack was over.

"I wonder what could have made an entire swarm of them attack the city" Misty muttered to herself, "Their nest is so far away why would they come here?"

Kikyo was wondering the same thing Beedrill do have a tendency to become aggressive even to humans, but never without a reason so why or better yet what would cause them to come so far from their nest and start attacking the people of the city.

At the other side of the city Keith and Shawn were rushing toward the other swarm.

"Alright so what's our plan?" Shawn asked as he and Keith ran toward the river line.

"Distract the Beedrill and make sure everyone gets inside unharmed" Keith yelled back to him.

"Alright let me rephrase that" Shawn said as they slid to a stop with the swarm in front of them, "How are we going to do that?"

"Like this" Keith said throwing his pokeballs out, summoning all three of his Pokémon.

Pikachu, Squirtle and Charmander were summoned from their pokeballs. The three of them stood around their trainer awaiting his orders.

"Pikachu get up to the roof and shock every Beedrill that gets in range of you. Squirtle use your water gun at every chance you get, if you can soak their wings they won't be able to keep flying and Charmander you team up with Squirtle once he gets them on the ground you finish them off".

The three Pokémon acknowledged their orders and ran off to engage the Beedrill swarm while Shawn reached for his own pokeballs, "Alright Abra, Horus let's go!"

Releasing his two Pokémon, Shawn looked around at them and Izanagi who remained at his side, "Alright guys here's the plan, Horus you can fly I want you to try and draw the Beedrill over here so Keith's Pokémon can take them down, Abra I want you on standby if we see anyone who needs help I want you to use teleport and get them to safety and Izanagi once the Beedrill are knocked out of the air I want you to help Charmander finish them off".

With their orders received Shawn's Pokémon also left to help deal with the attacking Beedrill with the exception of Abra who remained at Shawn's side until it was needed.

"I don't suppose you have any idea why this is happening do you?" Shawn asked Keith.

Keith shook his head, "I'm afraid not. Over the past week the Beedrill have become much more aggressive than usual, but they've never left the woods before something must be disturbing their nest for them to come this far out…wait" Keith suddenly remembered what happened when he and Kikyo helped save his Charmander last night, "Kikyo and I heard a series a echoes last night they sounded like they were coming from the mountain range along the side of the river which is right where the Beedrill make their nests".

"So whatever is making those echoes is what's driving the Beedrill mad. Any idea what it could be?"

Keith shook his head again, "No I wanted to investigate, but that's when we saw Charmander being attacked by the Beedrill. Once we saved it we had to leave".

"Well at least we know what to do once we're done here" Shawn said watching Keith's Pikachu shock a group of Beedrill out of the air.

Keith looked at Shawn and smirked, "Grab some lunch and then investigate the mountain side, not possibly in that order".

Shawn laughed before a few of the Beedrill dived toward him and Keith, "Hit the deck!"

Both Keith and Shawn dropped down and the Beedrill zoomed over them. "This isn't good" Keith said as they got up, "We have to find a way to stop this now".

Shawn thought for a moment, "I think I have an idea". Running over to Izanagi he kneeled down next to him, "Izanagi come here" he scooped Izanagi into his arms and ran over to a nearby home, "Izanagi I'm going to put you on the roof, I want you to run around and use swift to draw the Beedrill toward you. Once they're on to you lead them to Pikachu or Squirtle alright".

Izanagi nodded and jumped out of his arms and onto the roof using his swift attack to anger the Beedrill, making them chase him. Izanagi began running stopping periodically to use swift again to keep the Beedrill interested in him. Eventually leading the Beedrill back to Keith's Squirtle, Izanagi jumped off the roof and ran over to Squirtle who turned around and inhaled deeply before spraying its water gun attack shooting them down as they approached.

"Izanagi keep using swift take them all down" Shawn ordered at the same time Keith told his Charmander to attack as well.

The two trainers watched as their Pokémon attacked the Beedrill groups bringing them down as they approached them.

"This is too easy" Shawn laughed before Keith pointed to their left, "Here comes your Pidgey".

Shawn looked to the left to see Horus flying back to them with another wave of Beedrill following him, "Keith get your Pokémon ready we're going to drop them all in one combined attack".

Shawn ran toward Horus to meet him halfway, "Horus" he yelled, "Keep flying back to the others once you make it to them use whirlwind on the Beedrill".

Horus heard its trainer's orders and kept flying past him as Shawn ducked down to avoid the pursuing Beedrill. Turning around he watched Horus fly straight up before going into a steep dive heading right for Keith and the other Pokémon. Once near them Horus pulled up again and turned around flapping his wings to create a violent whirlwind while the Pokémon below him all attacked at once.

In one combined flash of light the Beedrill swarm had fallen ending their attack on the city. Shawn ran back to them with a pokeball in his hand, "Mine" he yelled as he threw the pokeball at the injured Beedrill capturing it.

Picking up the pokeball with his new Beedrill he looked over to Keith, "Aren't you going to take one?"

Keith shook his head, "Not this time I'm worried about what could cause them to come out this far".

The two of them recalled their Pokémon, "Should we go check on the girls?" Shawn asked.

Keith was sure they were fine, but even as skilled as they were he was still worried about them, "Yeah let's go we need to regroup".

Shawn and Keith ran back to the Pokémon Center rejoining Kikyo and Misty who had already ended the swarm on their side.

"Are you two alright?" Shawn asked stopping next to them before seeing only a few Beedrill on the ground behind them, "Weren't there more over here? What happened to them?"

Misty smiled at him, "After we stopped them Kikyo caught one and some of the kids who were hiding started catching them to. The rest are being caught by the police so they can take them back to their nest and release them".

"Yeah speaking of their nest" Shawn began.

"We need to go find out what caused them to leave and come here" Keith finished, "There's something or someone out there disturbing their nest and we need to find out why".

"Well what are we waiting for?" Kikyo asked them, "Let's go!"

The four trainers made their way back to Cerulean Cape and entered the woods with Misty and Keith slowly leading them to where the Beedrill made their nest. The echoing sound Keith and Kikyo heard the night before was still there which made both of sure that it was the cause of the Beedrill attacking. The echoes were less than a minute apart and were getting louder as they drew closer to the Beedrill territory.

"This is it" Keith told them as he kneeled closer to the ground and slowly pushed the shrubbery aside, "Stay low and keep close".

Slowly the four trainers peeked through the shrubbery to find the Beedrill nest wasn't filled by Beedrill or any of its pre-evolution stages, but instead a bunch of machines that were emitted some kind of smog along with a screeching sound.

"What's going on here?" Misty wondered before both Izanami and Izanagi howled and began holding their ears down with their front legs.

"Izanami" Kikyo cried, "What's wrong?"

"Its got to be whatever that machine is" Shawn said running his hand over Izanagi's back trying to make him calm down, "Their sense of hearing is more sensitive than ours so that screeching sound must be really hurting them".

"Well this explains why the Beedrill left their nest" Keith said as he scanned the area, "But who the hell set those things here?"

Izanami and Izanagi howled again the screeching becoming too much for them.

"Keith let's go" Shawn said darting out of the bushes and quietly running over to the two machines.

Keith followed after him and they began examining the two machines finding a shut off switch for both of them. Once the two machines were shut down they called for Misty and Kikyo to join them, someone had to put these things here, but who and why? All four of them ducked down suddenly when a loud deafening sound roared through the area.

"What the hell was that?" Shawn yelled.

"Quiet" Keith told him, "That was an explosion".

"Who would be blasting out here?" Kikyo wondered.

"Whoever it is they're also probably the ones who set these machines out here" Shawn said, "Which means they knew that this was a Beedrill nest and purposely drove them out".

"And whoever it is they've got a lot to answer for" Keith said as they ran toward the river where the explosions were coming from.

Reaching the large river they finally saw the cause of everything. On the other side of the river where a large group of people all of them dressed in black clothing with a large red R on their shirts. They were setting explosives at the side of the mountain and using trucks to move the debris.

"Who are these guys?" Shawn wondered.

"I think I might know" Keith said, "Judging from that R on their shirts they might be from Team Rocket".

"I've heard of them" Kikyo said, "They're an organization of criminals who use Pokémon for evil purposes. There have even been reports of them stealing Pokémon from other people".

"Well that's good" Shawn said, "Now I won't feel bad about beating them to death".

Keith growled to himself, "Well before we go in there why don't we try to find out why they're trying to blast their way through the mountain wall".

"Then maybe we should try that?" Kikyo said pointing out a small table near a bend in the river.

There was a single Rocket member standing at the table with a radio to his ear. He was leaning over the table while he was talking on the radio he seemed to be reading something on the table. Behind him was another machine with a large pipe that was laid into the water of the river.

Kikyo slowly turned around to face them, "There's bound to be something on that table worth looking at so if we can find out what it might tell us what they're doing here".

"That's a solid idea for right now" Keith agreed, "Let's move slow there are a lot of them if they see us we'll be in trouble".

Sneaking around the tree line the four trainers stopped at the bend in the river waiting for the Rocket member at the table to walk away. Grabbing a pokeball from her belt Kikyo held it out and opened it releasing her Pidgey, Yuri.

The Pokémon immediately perched itself on its trainer's shoulder and looked at her waiting for her to tell it what to do.

"Yuri I need you to do something for me" Kikyo said before pointing at the Rocket member across the river, "That man standing at the table there. When he leaves I want you to fly over there and bring me whatever is on the table".

"Hold on" Shawn told her, "I've got a better idea" pulling out a pokeball of his own he summoned Abra to his side, "I'll have Abra teleport me over there and I can take what's on the table and be back before they see me".

"Shawn no" Kikyo objected, "If they see you".

"I'll be fine" he told her, "It'll be faster than sending Yuri over there and I can bring more back with me".

"He's right" Keith said, "It'll be faster to send him over". Keith looked to Shawn, "Just be careful over there".

Shawn nodded to him, "Just keep them safe alright". Looking down to his Abra, Shawn told it to teleport him across the river.

Abra's eyes opened slowly and glowed with a mystic light before it vanished along with Shawn reappearing on the other side of the river behind the Rocket's truck.

Staying low Shawn sneaked around the side of the truck peeking around the corner he saw something strapped to the Rocket's leg and immediately retreated back around the truck, "Great" he mumbled to himself, "A gun. What should I do now?"

Looking back to Abra an idea entered his mind, "Abra I'm going to draw him over here when I do I want you to teleport him as far away as you can and then come back ok?"

Abra lazily snored its name as it continued to lean against the rear tire of the truck.

"Glad to hear it" Shawn silently chuckled as he picked up a pebble from the ground before standing up and throwing it at the Rocket in front of him and ducking back down.

When the pebble hit the Rocket member he turned around and started scanning the area. Crouching down Shawn looked under the truck and threw another pebble at the Rocket member's feet quickly taking cover afterwards.

"What the hell?" the Rocket growled kneeling down and looking under the truck, "What is that?" he muttered seeing the tip of Abra's tail.

"Get ready" Shawn whispered to Abra as the Rocket began walking around the side of the truck. When the Rocket began walking around the truck Shawn walked in the other direction staying a constant distance from him.

Sneaking over to the table Shawn heard the Rocket laugh, "Hehe an Abra huh? This is a nice little treat, now don't you move you're going to be my new servant".

As the Rocket finished speaking Abra opened its eyes teleporting both of them far into the woods leaving Shawn in the clear.

Checking the table Shawn saw a large diagram of the mountain with a bunch of X marks on one side with a line lading inside the mountain with a series of numbers next to it and a single circle that was lab labeled "Target".

"What target?" Shawn wondered turning his attention to an open journal at the end of the table, "Here we go" he said taking it and retreating back behind the truck where his Abra was waiting for him, "Alright Abra let's get out of here".

Abra teleported him back to the other side of the river where his friends were waiting for him.

"What did you get?" Keith asked him seeing the journal.

Shawn opened the journal and began reading the latest entry, "We have reason to believe that the Pokémon the boss has been searching for is hiding in the depths of Cerulean Cave. The boss warned us that this particular Pokémon is very dangerous and has advised us to use the utmost caution when attempting to apprehend or approach it. With that knowledge in mind we have decided to not take any chances and are going to block off the entrance to Cerulean Cave and blast our way in through the side of the mountain the only problem is there is a massive Beedrill nest directly across the river, but a few smog machines and sonic emitters should cause them enough pain to make them flee and go somewhere else. Once we manage to blast our way into the cave we will capture the target Pokémon and deliver it to the boss after which our organization will be able to realize its goal of controlling the world".

"That's all it says" Shawn told them closing the journal.

"That's what this is about!" Misty growled, "How could they? They put a lot of people in danger and caused all of those Beedrill pain just to get at a single Pokémon living in the cave? That's unforgivable!"

"I agree" Keith said, "I say we take them out".

"Hold on" Shawn said flipping through more pages of the journal, "This entry mentions sonic emitters, if that's what was causing that screeching sound then there's more of them".

"How many more?" Keith asked him.

Shawn began reading the entry, "That damn Gyarados has been causing us more trouble than the Beedrill I think our blasting is disturbing its nest or whatever those things make for a home. That Gyarados has delayed our plans by two weeks, but no more the boss just shipped us four more sonic devices now we have five including the one we snuck into the Beedrill nest. All we have to do now is place these four in the water at certain points and they'll cripple the Gyarados completely neutralizing it. Once our mission is complete I'm going to personally end that thing's existence for getting in my way".

"End its existence?" Kikyo repeated, "He's going to kill it?"

"Over my cold, dead body" Keith said, "Does it say where those devices are?"

Shawn nodded, "Yeah one is right there in front of us, another is further down right where they're blasting and the other two are further up river".

Kikyo took the journal from him and began flipping through it, "According to these notes the devices have to stay at a consistent frequency with each other to be effective".

"So all we have to do is stop one of them and the Gyarados will be freed?" Misty asked her.

"That's what it sounds like" Keith said standing up with a pokeball in his hand, "Alright let's see how this does it. Go Pikachu!"

Summoning his Pikachu, Keith ordered it to hit the sonic device across the river with its thundershock.

The Pikachu jumped up and curled its arms and legs in quickly building a massive charge of electricity before spreading its limbs out and launching its attack at the device overloading it and causing it to explode.

"Outstanding Keith" Shawn said as the device was destroyed, but their celebration was short lived as a massive column of water erupted into the air accompanied by a deafening roar as the Gyarados mentioned in the journal rose from the lake in a destructive rage.

"It's the Gyarados!" the Rockets yelled before the Gyarados fired a heavy blast of water from its mouth, mowing down their entire operation with a single blast.

Their equipment was destroyed, but the Rockets weren't going to let it go unanswered; all of them called forth their Pokémon and ordered them to attack the Gyarados at once. At least three dozen Pokémon were sent out all of them attacking the rampaging Gyarados with various attacks damaging it, but at the same time only adding to its rage.

"We have to do something they're hurting it" Kikyo said watching the Gyarados flinch from its pain before attacking again.

Shawn wasn't so sure watching how easily the Gyarados was tearing through the Rocket's and their Pokémon, "No I think the big guy's got it on his own" he said before something was fired at the Gyarados and exploded on contact.

The Gyarados roared in pain after whatever hit it exploded, the enraged Pokémon turned back to attack again only for a second projectile to hit it exploding on impact just like the first. The Gyarados' body fell onto the bank of the river followed by a mighty tremor signaling the hidden trainers that it was time to help.

"Alright let's get in there" Shawn said jumping out of his hiding spot and calling Horus to his side, "Horus whirlwind".

Horus flew across the river and began flapping its wings creating a violent whirlwind as Kikyo sent out Gaia and told it to use stun spore. Gaia released her stun spore into the whirlwind allowing it to spread to some of the Rockets and their Pokémon.

Keith was ready to join the battle as well, but Misty was focus on helping the injured Gyarados. Seeing his friend swim across the river toward the unconscious Pokémon he knew if it woke up with her next to it, it would attack her. He called for Misty to stay away from it, but she wouldn't listen. As a water Pokémon specialist she knew the risks of being too close to an angry Gyarados, but she wasn't going to leave it in this condition.

Reaching the other side of the river Misty climbed onto the bank and ran to check the Gyarados' injuries. Whatever kind of weapon they used on it caused a lot of damage; the part of its body just under its head was severely scarred.

"This is horrible" she said upon seeing the Pokémon's injuries, "Well don't worry I'm going to help you".

"Misty!" Keith yelled climbing out of the river and running over to her, "I know you want to help, but it's too dangerous".

"I don't care" she fired back, "I'm going to help it I have to just cover me while I try to treat its injuries".

"Dammit" Keith growled, "You're not going to budge on this one are you?"

"What do you think?" she asked him after pulling a potion out of her bag.

Keith sighed as he summoned his Pokémon just as a group of Team Rocket members began running toward them.

Looking over to the Rockets Keith ordered his Pokémon to attack, Squirtle, Charmander and Pikachu jumped forward to defend their trainer the three of them attacking all at once. While Keith's Pokémon held back the Rockets, Misty asked him to help her tend to the unconscious Gyarados.

Hurrying to Misty's side Keith took a potion from her and began spraying it on the Gyarados' injuries, "If this thing wakes up and eats me I'm going to come back and haunt you".

"You'll be fine" she told him, "The faster you heal its injuries the quicker we can get away from it before it wakes up".

While they were busying helping the Gyarados, Kikyo and Shawn were still battling against the remaining Team Rocket members.

"This isn't good" Shawn said as the Rocket members started to regroup with each other, "If they manage to regroup there will be too many of them".

Kikyo knew he had a point, but they couldn't just leave, "I know, but we if we run now they'll attack Gyarados again, we can't let them do that".

"Well let's hope Misty and Keith can heal it soon" Shawn said after ordering Horus and Izanagi to double team one of the Rocket's Pokémon, "What are we going to do if it wakes up though?" he asked Kikyo, "Gyarados are known for their tempers. It's not going to be happy".

"Enough of this!" one of the Rockets yelled, "I'll teach you to meddle in affairs that don't concern you. Go Onix!"

The Rocket member threw his pokeball out summoning a giant Pokémon that resembled a snake with large connected boulders at its body. At the top of this rock snake's head was a large rocky spine, a Pokémon very common deep within mountains and underground pathways an Onix.

Both Shawn and Kikyo had seen an Onix used in the Pokémon League held the year before the Onix alone rampaged its way through an entire battle without being switched out. Never a Pokémon to be taken lightly, even though they were slow they were unbelievably tough.

Watching the Onix tower over them Kikyo wasn't willing to take the chance against such an opponent. Ordering Gaia to use sleep powder she turned around and told Shawn to start running. Gaia jumped up releasing its sleep powder attack on the Onix only to have the giant rock snake lean back and smack Gaia away with its tail.

"Gaia!" Kikyo cried as her Pokémon was swatted away.

"Time to leave!" Shawn yelled grabbing Kikyo's arm and running away.

"Run all you want" the Rocket member yelled at them, "You're not getting away alive".

As Shawn continued to run pulling Kikyo behind him he ordered Horus to use sand-attack to blind the Onix. Horus flew down behind them and began flapping its wings kicking up a large cloud of dust and sand and sending it right into the eyes of the Onix. Thankfully the attack worked, the Onix broke off its pursuit and flailed to the side allowing Shawn and Kikyo to put more distance between them.

Running over to Keith and Misty, Shawn yelled for them to start running away.

Hearing Shawn yell at them Keith turned around and saw the Onix chasing them, "An Onix great that's all we needed" he growled before ordering his Squirtle to blast it with water gun.

Keith's Squirtle jumped over to them and fired its water gun at the Onix, "Really need to hurry now Misty" Keith yelled.

"I'm almost done" she said before the enemy Onix let out a deafening roar as Squirtle hit it with another water gun.

"Just keep it up Squirtle" Keith ordered before Misty yelled from behind him, "Staryu, Starmie use bubblebeam!"

Misty's Pokémon attacked the Onix as well attempting to slow it down while she tended to the injured Gyarados, but when she turned around she saw the eyes of the Gyarados open. Misty slowly backed away from the Pokémon as it rose back up.

"Keith" Misty yelled as the Gyarados stared down at her.

Looking behind him Keith watched the Gyarados rear back and a surge of water began forming in its mouth, "Misty move!" he yelled running over to her and pulling her out of the way.

The Gyarados lunged forward firing a massive blast of water from its mouth at where the two of them used to stand.

"Looks like he's back to a hundred percent time to leave" Keith said as Shawn and Kikyo ran over to them.

"We need to leave now" Shawn told them calling out his Abra.

Keith and Misty recalled their Pokémon and huddled around Shawn and Kikyo as Abra opened its eyes and teleported them back to the other side of the river. "Alright what should we do now?" Shawn asked them, "Cause as much as I'd like to put an end to those guys I'm not a fan of sticking around with a pissed off Gyarados".

Both the Onix and the Gyarados could be heard roaring as they engage each other. Thanks to Misty's and Keith's efforts it was healed enough to easily over power the Onix hitting it with its dragon rage and hydro pump attacks.

Watching the Gyarados defeat the Onix, Shawn smiled nervously, "Like I said a pissed off Gyarados".

"I think it's safe to assume Gyarados can handle it from here" Misty told them, "Once its done it'll return to the ocean".

"Works for me" Shawn said turning back to them, "So who wants lunch?"

"Gyarados look out!" Kikyo yelled.

While the Gyarados was focused on attacking the members of Team Rocket the one Shawn's Abra teleported away earlier returned with a large weapon in his hands. Setting the weapon onto his shoulder the Rocket fired the weapon at Gyarados. The projectile turned into a large net which electrified the Gyarados on contact.

Hearing the Gyarados roar in pain Kikyo began trembling with anger, how could anyone do such a thing to another living creature?

"Kikyo!" Shawn yelled as Kikyo jumped through the trees and threw a pokeball into the air.

"Yuri use quick attack, take him down!" she yelled after throwing the pokeball into the air.

The ball opened releasing Kikyo's Pidgey which flew toward the Team Rocket member that shot the Gyarados tackling into him and knocking him to the ground.

After Yuri rammed into him the Rocket member dropped his weapon as the enraged Gyarados turned around to face who attacked it.

The Rocket stared up at the Gyarados as it began forming another surge of water in its mouth, but the Rocket merely smiled and threw a pokeball out, "Machamp use protect!"

The pokeball opened releasing a large blue skinned, muscular humanoid like Pokémon with four arms. The newly summoned Pokémon stood in front of its trainer and crossed its four arms in front of it creating a greenish transparent wall in front of it that blocked the Gyarados' attack.

With Gyarados' attack blocked the Team Rocket member laughed as he got up and retrieved his weapon, "Now then I'm going to finish you off" he gloated as he placed the Gyarados in his sights, "And then I'm going to find the ones who did all of this".

"No!" Kikyo yelled jumping in front of him and holding her arms out, "I'm not going to let you hurt it anymore!"

The Rocket member seemed confused at first, but he immediately began laughing, "And just what do you think you can do about it? In case you haven't noticed sweetheart I have a gun" he patted the holstered handgun on his leg, "Plus I have this so I really advise you getting out of my way".

Kikyo refused to move standing between him and the weakened Gyarados which also seemed to be confused. The Rocket member became irritated demanding again that Kikyo get out of his way, but she still refused.

"That's it" he yelled stepping toward her, "I don't have time to play with you kid so get lost" he raised his hand in an attempt to hit her, but she called out Yuri's name and the tiny bird Pokémon dived down ramming into him again and knocking him back down.

Once the Team Rocket member was knocked down Kikyo tried to run for the river, but the enemy Machamp cut her off. Backing away from the large Pokémon she watched as Yuri flew over to it and began pecking and scratching at the Machamp's face trying to save its trainer only to have the much stronger Pokémon knock it away.

"Yuri!" Kikyo cried as the Machamp approached her again.

"Too bad kid" the Rocket chuckled as he stood back up, "You should've left when you had the chance!" Quickly raising his hand, the Team Rocket member struck Kikyo knocking her to the ground.

Watching Kikyo be struck the Gyarados roared and reared back as flames began forming in its mouth.

"That's a dragon rage attack!" Keith yelled.

Shawn looked down to his Abra, "Abra get Kikyo out of there now!"

Abra teleported to Kikyo at the same time the Gyarados attacked with dragon rage blowing the Team Rocket member and his Machamp away.

"Kikyo!" Shawn yelled as a massive cloud of dust was blown into the air from the attack. Jumping out from the trees Shawn ran down to the bank and continued screaming his friend's name only to have the Gyarados answer him.

The Gyarados stared down at him as the smoke cleared and it looked like it was about to attack again. Seeing more flames form in the Pokémon's mouth Shawn gritted his teeth and kneeled down to cover himself before Kikyo's voice cried out to them from the other side of the river, "Gyarados stop!"

The Gyarados halted its attack and looked behind it to see both Kikyo and Shawn's Abra on the bank of the river having narrowly escaped from the enraged Pokémon's attack.

Kikyo ran over to the Gyarados and told it to stand down, "Its over now all the bad guys are gone you're safe".

The Gyarados growled as it lowered its head getting closer to Kikyo who held her ground as it got closer to her. Slowly reaching her hand out she removed the electric net from the Pokémon's body and dropped it on the ground next to her, "It's all over now" she said again to which it responded by gently rubbing its head against her with a seemingly happy expression.

Kikyo was surprised that the Gyarados was showing her affection, but she began giggling as it rubbed against her and even more surprised when Yuri returned to her, "Yuri!" she gasped, "You're ok I'm so happy".

As the Gyarados continued to show its appreciation to Kikyo a helicopter flew overhead and landed near them placing everyone on their guard, but they relaxed when they saw it was the police that stepped out.

"What's going on here?" the officer demanded, "First a swarm of Beedrill attack and now multiple explosions have been heard originating from this area".

Both Misty and Keith quickly ran over to the police officer and began explaining everything that had happened.

"Team Rocket?" the officer said in disbelief, "Why would they be blasting into the mountain?"

Misty was about to tell the officer why, but the Team Rocket members behind them began coming to and they weren't happy about being beaten.

"You're all going to pay for interfering with our plans" one of them growled before Shawn chuckled at him and told him that he should really just calm down and give up.

"Oh yeah and who's going to make me?" the Rocket asked before the Gyarados roared at him and as it did the Rocket member froze in fear.

A few minutes later more police officers arrived and all of the Team Rocket members were arrested officially putting and end to their operation and securing the safety of the Pokémon in the nearby woods.

"Well this has been an interesting day" Shawn said, "Gym battle, Beedrill attack the city, we defeat a criminal organization with the help of a very pissed off Gyarados I think its time for lunch how about you guys?"

Misty laughed as she turned to him; "Before we eat I need to give this to you" she reached into her pocket and handed him the Cascade badge she tried to give him earlier, "I know you said you wanted to beat me in a gym battle, but after everything you've done I think you've earned it".

This time Shawn didn't object, "Thank you Misty" he said taking the badge from her, "Maybe next time we can have a proper gym battle between us".

Misty smiled and nodded, "I'd like that" she then turned to Keith and handed him a gym badge as well.

"Why are you giving me one?" he asked her.

Misty giggled at him, "You said you wanted to challenge the Pokémon League right? You need my badge to do it".

"So you're just handing these out now?" he asked her.

Misty blushed and moved her eyes to the ground, "Well you did save my life today so I just thought…"

"Thank you Misty" Keith said, "And I promise I'm going to make it to the Pokémon League and I'm going to win".

While the three of them were talking Kikyo called to them as Yuri flew off of her shoulder and began glowing in a bright light.

"Is that what I think it is?" Shawn asked as Yuri's body became completely illuminated.

"Its evolving" Misty said as Yuri's body became larger and a crest began growing from its head, the feathers on its tail changed color and began growing out and eventually the Yuri's body stopped glowing and its evolution was complete.

Yuri threw her wings out and shrieked before flying down to Kikyo.

Kikyo was happy to see her Pokémon evolve and even happier to have a Gyarados showing her such affection. The massive sea serpent like Pokémon rubbed its head against her again.

Misty giggled at the sight, "It seems that Gyarados really likes her now that she saved it".

"Greeeeeat" Shawn said, "That's just what I need a Gyarados as competition".

The sun began setting and Kikyo and Shawn decided to remain in Cerulean for one more night before setting off for Pewter City in the morning. The next morning Misty and Keith met them at the edge of the city and Route 4 which led to Mt. Moon.

"Well it's been real guys" Shawn said shaking hands with both of them.

"I don't know why you're saying goodbye" Keith said to him, "I'm coming with you".

"Really?" Shawn asked, "Why?"

Keith smiled, "I'm going to enter the Pokémon League to so I need to start collecting badges myself".

Kikyo smiled and looked at Misty, "I wish you could join us Misty".

Misty apologized to her, "Sorry, I wish I could to, but I can't leave my gym without a leader. I'll be cheering for all of you so be sure to stop by on your way back to say hi".

Kikyo and Shawn nodded before saying goodbye and leaving as Keith lagged behind to talk to Misty alone.

"I'm going to miss you" he said to her.

Misty blushed at him, "I'm going to miss you to, promise me you'll be safe out there".

Keith nodded at her with a smile, "I'll come back every chance I get and I'll call you from every Pokémon Center I visit. Just be sure to come and cheer for me when I make the Pokémon League".

"Hey!" Shawn called to him, "Hurry up or we'll leave you behind".

Keith smiled before sharing a quick hug with Misty and running after Shawn and Kikyo.

"So it's going to be the three of us now huh?" Shawn asked as Keith caught up to them.

"For now" Keith said, "I plan on going my own way eventually, but for now I'm going to stick with the two of you if you don't mind".

"Not at all" Kikyo said as she held Izanami in her arms and looking up to the morning sky while a wide smile on her face.


	4. Determination

"Horus use quick attack!" Shawn yelled pointing at his Pokémon.

Horus flew toward its opponent at a high speed, ramming into it and knocking it down.

Kikyo, Shawn and Keith had been traveling for half a day now and at long last they finally managed to find their way out of Mt. Moon, but before they could make it to Pewter City another trainer challenged them.

Wanting to strength his Pokémon for his up coming gym battle, Shawn immediately accepted the trainer's challenge. The trainer's first Pokémon was a Zubat that he caught in Mt. Moon and Shawn sent out his Pidgey Horus to battle it.

Horus' quick attack hit home knocking the Zubat out of the air with its opponent grounded Shawn ordered Horus to attack again with gust. The Zubat weakly flapped its wings as it tried to get up only to have Horus fly over it and start flapping his wings creating a harsh circulating wind around its opponent adding to its damage.

"Zubat return" the trainer called, holding out his pokeball and recalling his defeated Zubat. "Not bad" he said to Shawn as he pulled out another pokeball and threw it out, "Go Nidoran!"

With his second Pokémon out the trainer was ready for round 2, ordering his Nidoran to attack with its poison sting. Shawn ordered Horus to evade the attack and counter with gust. Watching Horus evade the attack and counter by flapping its wings summoning a small twister of debris Kikyo cheered them on while Keith watched silently.

While he traveled with them through Mt. Moon they crossed paths with several trainers and from watching Sawn and Kikyo battle he was starting to understand their battle styles.

Shawn's battle style was highly aggressive; he never made use of any abilities that could give him an advantage by lowering his opponent's stats his only orders were to evade and attack. Despite that he did display quick reaction time giving his Pokémon the order to evade almost immediately after his opponent attacked. Even with his aggressive battle style it was clear that he had the potential to be a skilled trainer, but from everything that Keith has seen Kikyo was the one to really be cautious of.

Kikyo's battle style was the complete opposite of Shawn's she displayed a great forte for strategy even in the heat of a losing battle he had seen her come up with elaborate plans that seemingly left her Pokémon open and vulnerable luring her opponents in to attack only to have her attack while their guard was down. Unlike Shawn, Kikyo made full use of her Pokémon's ability to lower an enemy's stats or afflict them with an ailment.

It was obvious to Keith that Kikyo was going to make a great trainer and he could even see her as a potential rival to him one day.

"Horus finish it off with quick attack" Shawn yelled.

Horus flew toward the enemy Nidoran ramming into it and an angle and sending it flying into the side of the mountain knocking it out and securing the victory.

"I don't believe it" the trainer groaned, "Both of my Pokémon were taken out so easily and I never even touched you".

Horus perched itself on Shawn's shoulder, "Don't feel too bad about it" he told the trainer as he reached his arm up and scratched Horus' head, "You put up a good effort I only won because I've trained Horus a little more".

The trainer thanked Shawn for a good battle before taking his Pokémon to be healed at the nearby Pokémon Center. After the trainer left, Kikyo ran over to Shawn and congratulated him and Horus on their victory.

"Easy day" Shawn said before looking to Horus, still perched on his shoulder, "Isn't that right Horus?"

Horus gave a happy call in response to its trainer as Keith walked over to them, "Nice going Shawn" he said before praising Horus as well, "Shall we keep going?"

Kikyo nodded, "Yeah the quicker we get to Pewter City the quicker I can get my second gym badge".

"Hey slow down princess" Shawn said, "Remember you're not the only one who's going for a gym badge. You're the one who almost got us lost in Mt. Moon so I get first dibs on the gym leader".

"Like hell you do" Keith told him, "I'm the one who found the way out of the mountain so I get the first shot at the gym leader".

Kikyo stepped back and pulled a coin from her pocket, "Alright look there's an easy way to decide this, if its heads Shawn gets first battle if its tails Keith gets is".

Flipping the coin into the air she stepped back and let the coin land on the ground it was tails.

Kikyo picked up the coin and smiled, "Well that's that, Keith gets to fight the gym leader first well after me of course".

"Wait what?" Keith said looking at her.

"Ladies first" she said to him before turning around and continuing toward Pewter City.

Arriving at the entrance to the city, Kikyo took out her guidebook and began reading as Shawn and Keith caught up to her, "A quiet city nestled between rugged mountains and rocks…Not much of a tag line".

"I don't care if it's a city made entirely out of gold" Shawn said, "I'm only interested in one thing and that's the Pewter City Gym".

"Just remember you're going last" Keith told him.

"Not if I get there first" Shawn yelled bolting past them and running into the city.

"Oh hell no" Keith muttered chasing after him leaving Kikyo shaking her head before following them into the city.

The three trainers stopped in front of the Pewter City Gym to see a boy walking out with a defeated look on his face, "This sucks" he moaned to himself, "I can't believe I was beaten so easily and it wasn't even the gym leader".

Shawn watched the boy walk away before looking to Kikyo and Keith, "I think he lost".

"No shit?" Keith asked with a blank expression before they entered the gym.

"Well looks like we have some more challengers" a female voice said.

In the corner of the room was a machine similar to those used in a Pokémon Center to heal injured Pokémon with two people standing next to it, a young woman and man.

The young woman had long blonde hair that reached the center of her back. She was wearing white t-shirt with a small pleated blue skirt and brown dress shoes with knee high socks.

The young man next to her had jet black hair and was wearing a dark green shirt with brown cargo pants, his black boots reached halfway to his ankles.

"How many does this make?" the young man asked the woman.

"Depends" the woman chuckled, "If all three of them are here to challenge us that would make seven today".

"Seven?" Kikyo muttered.

Keith kept a firm stance and a calm expression, "Which means they've defeated four trainers so far today".

"Big deal" Shawn said stepping forward, "I beat more than that on the way here" he looked at the two of them, "Which one of you is the gym leader?"

Both of them laughed, "Neither of us is the gym leader here, but you shouldn't be concerned with that. You won't be meeting Brock until we decide if you're even worthy of facing him".

"I don't know who the two of you are" Keith began as he stepped forward as well, "But according to League rules a gym leader must accept any and all challengers" he glared at them, "And since neither of you is the leader of this gym you're not even worth speaking to so get out of our way".

The arrogant couple looked at Keith surprised by his words, but they quickly shook it off as the girl chuckled again, "Whether you think we're worth your time or not the fact still remains that you'll have to get past us before we let you anywhere near Brock".

"So you're ignoring the official rules set by the League?" Keith asked them.

"That's enough!" a voice demanded.

Entering the room from a side hallway was another young man with spiky brown hair. He had tan skin and was pretty tall compared to Kikyo and her friends he had to be 6'1 at best. He wore an orange deep V style shirt over a black undershirt with pale brown cargo pants and heavy looking boots, but his most striking feature was that his eyes seemed completely closed yet he was walking toward them as if he could still see them.

"What's going on here?" he asked the arrogant couple.

The woman's arrogant attitude suddenly faded as she sheepishly replied, "Oh uh we were just…"

"Trying to deny us our right to challenge the gym leader" Shawn answered for her, "I assume that's you?"

The second man nodded and introduced himself, "I am Brock leader of the Pewter City Gym".

"Then you're the one we want to see" Shawn said, "The three of us are here to challenge you, but I think you're…cheerleaders here need a lesson in manners".

"What did you call me?" the arrogant young man asked him, "If you want to challenge me then bring it on".

Shawn grunted, "Who said I'm challenging just you I'll take both of you on at the same time".

The arrogant woman stepped forward, "You will regret that decision".

Shawn ignored her and looked to Brock, "May I borrow your battle area?"

Brock silently nodded and escorted them to the gym's battle room, "I will act as the referee for this battle" he said before looking to Shawn, "How many Pokémon do you have with you?"

"Four" Shawn answered looking down at Izanagi and smiling, "But I'll gladly take on every Pokémon they have with them".

Brock looked to the arrogant couple opposite Shawn who only had a single Pokémon each, "This will be a two against two battle you will each only use one Pokémon understood?"

The two of them nodded before grabbing their pokeballs and sending out their Pokémon, a Rattata and a Butterfree.

Seeing his opponents Shawn decided to use Horus and Abra for this battle sending out his Pokémon he waited for the gym leader to give them the go ahead to start.

"Horus use quick attack on Rattata" Shawn yelled.

Horus flew into the air and dived back down with amazing speed targeting the tiny rat Pokémon below it, but Butterfree ran interference covering its ally.

"Butterfree use gust" the woman ordered.

Butterfree flew in between Rattata and Horus and began flapping its wings creating a strong gale of wind forcing Horus to break off its attack.

Shawn smiled, "Is that all you've got, Horus show it what a real gust looks like!" Horus turned back to the Butterfree and began flapping its wings creating a gale of its own.

Both of the opposing Pokémon evaded the attack and turned their attention to Abra who was still sitting idle in front of Shawn. Rattata was ordered to use quick attack on Abra while Butterfree was ordered to use its stun spore. Both Pokémon charged toward Abra who Shawn told to teleport away at last second before telling Horus to use whirlwind to toss the Butterfree around before tackling it out of the air.

After the Butterfree was forced to the ground Shawn began mocking his opponents, "Is this all you've got? I refuse to believe that you beat that trainer from earlier this is the easiest battle I've ever had".

"It's not over yet" the young man yelled ordering his Rattata to jump at Horus and use hyper fang.

"Horus evade and use whirlwind" Shawn ordered in response.

Horus flew to the side as the Rattata jumped at him and flapped its wings to summon a whirlwind attack that began tossing Rattata around in the air.

The female trainer ordered her Butterfree to attack, "Butterfree help Rattata use sleep powder!"

"Horus dive out of the way and return to Abra" Shawn yelled. Horus evaded Butterfree's attack and flew back to Abra's side before landing on the ground.

The Rattata fell to the ground managing to land on its feet although it was beginning to show signs of fatigue. The Butterfree had only taken a single hit so far in the match, but it was a hard one being knocked into the rocky floor of the gym by Horus.

There was a pause in the battle while the two trainers thought of a way to defeat Shawn. They knew Horus was their only real threat as Abra were only capable of using Teleport until they evolved, but they couldn't attack it without it teleporting away from them and Horus providing cover.

Deciding that they're only option at this point was to eliminate Horus from the equation they began their attack, Butterfree was sent in first with gust while Rattata was told to use quick attack followed by hyper fang.

The Butterfree flew forward and began flapping its wings summoning another gale of wing, but Shawn was ready to end the battle.

"Abra teleport Horus behind them, Horus hit 'em both with quick attack!"

Abra's eyes opened and glowed with a mystic light as it teleported itself and Horus away from Butterfree's gust and appeared behind both of them. After Abra finished teleporting them, Horus took off at full speed ramming Butterfree in the back and sending it to the ground before turning its attention to Rattata and attacking it as well. Rattata barely evaded Horus' attack and tried to retaliate, but failed to land a hit as Horus flew away.

After Horus flew away Rattata's trainer ordered it to attack Abra in an attempt to draw Horus back down. Shawn ordered Abra to teleport away from Rattata as it closed in to attack and ordered Horus to dive down and attack it in return. Abra teleported out of the way as Horus dived down to attack the Rattata which is just what his opponent wanted.

When Horus dived down to attack Rattata its trainer ordered it to quickly turn around and tackle Horus. The Pokémon collided with each other causing Horus to fall from the air and giving Rattata its opening to follow up with its hyper fang attack.

Rattata lunged at Horus with its mouth open, but thanks to Shawn's quick thinking he ordered his grounded Pokémon to use sand attack. Horus stood up and flapped its wings at the ground creating a sweeping wind that kicked dirt and sand into the attacking Pokémon's eyes making its attack miss and allowing Horus to escape.

"Great job Horus" Shawn said before his Abra began glowing, "Abra!" he gasped before it began glowing bright and its body began changing.

Its tail became larger and bulky as it began curling sharp claws grew from its fingers and toes as its ears grew longer. Slowly standing up as a long tuft of fur grew out from either side of its nose. With its evolution complete the new Pokémon stood ready to attack and so was its trainer.

Shawn was about to order his newly evolved Kadabra to attack, but the opposing Butterfree finally returned to the fight flying over head and releasing a sleep powder attack. Shawn ordered Kadabra to teleport out of the way and use confusion to bring Butterfree down once and for all.

Kadabra following its trainer's command teleported away from the sleep powder and hit Butterfree with confusion causing it to lose its bearing and fly into the wall of the gym before falling to the ground.

That last bit of damage took Butterfree out of the fight leaving only the Rattata which was quickly finished off by a combination attack of Kadabra's confusion and Horus' quick attack.

With the battle won Shawn recalled both of his Pokémon and looked to his defeated opponents, "So who's not worthy of who now?"

Neither of the trainers replied they both quickly left as Brock addressed Shawn on an impressive victory.

"Well done that was a good match" he waited until Shawn rejoined Kikyo and Keith before introducing himself again, "As I said I am Brock the Pewter City Gym Leader and if you wish to challenge me I accept".

Kikyo stepped forward, "I'm up first when do we begin?"

Brock smiled at her enthusiasm before walking across the field to where Shawn's former opponents were standing, "I don't see any reason to delay, this will be a two on two match. I hope you're ready".

Throwing his pokeball toward the center of the room Brock released his first Pokémon a Geodude.

"A Geodude huh?" Kikyo muttered to herself, "Well in that case all I need to do is this, Gaia you're up!"

Sending out her first Pokémon of the match the battle was ready to begin, Brock and his Geodude vs. Kikyo and her Oddish, Gaia. Brock opened the match by ordered his Geodude to use rock throw a slow move that was easily dodged. Gaia hopped out of the way of the hurled rocks, but before she could counter attack she received a heavy tackle from her opponent. The hit sent Gaia flying across the field thankfully she was able to land on her feet.

"Gaia you ok?" Kikyo asked. The Oddish jumped up and down showing that it was still pumped up and ready to keep going.

Kikyo smiled at her Pokémon, "That's what I like to hear now go sleep powder!"

Gaia jumped toward Brock's Geodude evading its attempts to attack her before releasing its sleep powder attack forcing Geodude to fall asleep when it inhaled the powder.

"Great job Gaia" Kikyo cheered, "Now use absorb". Gaia stood next to Geodude and touched her leaves to its body draining its health.

Watching his sleeping Pokémon have its health drained Brock called to it to wake up, but his calls went unheard until last second when his Pokémon finally awoke and grabbed hold of Gaia. Geodude hurled Gaia across the gym, but the damage had been done and it was clear that if Geodude stayed in the match any longer it would be beaten.

"Geodude that's good come on back" Brock called returning his Pokémon to its pokeball, "You're pretty good" he said to Kikyo, "But this match is no where near over" throwing another pokeball into the air Brock summoned his next Pokémon, "Go Onix!"

The pokeball opened releasing the giant rock snake Pokémon Onix. The giant Pokémon raised its body and stared down at Kikyo and Gaia with a rumbling growl, but despite its size and strength advantage Kikyo refused to be intimidated.

"Gaia go, get in close and use absorb".

Gaia ran into battle evading its opponent's attempts to attack it with its tail. Jumping onto the rock snake's back Gaia touched her leaves to its body and began draining its health just like it did to Geodude. Being a rock-type specialist Brock knew all too well how damaging grass-type moves were when used on rock Pokémon. Brock ordered Onix to throw Gaia off and counter attack with slam, but once Gaia was thrown from Onix's body Kikyo ordered her to use poison powder.

As Gaia was thrown into the air it began spinning around releasing a large cloud of poisonous purple spores that immediately began taking effect on Onix. Seeing his Pokémon succumb to the effects of the poison Brock knew that it was only a matter of time before it fainted from its effects if he was going to win this battle it had to be soon.

"Onix use rock throw" he yelled. Onix used its tail to pick up the boulders around the arena and throw them at Gaia who jumped around avoiding the boulders before eventually being intercepted by Onix's tail sending Gaia into the wall of the arena.

"No Gaia!" Kikyo cried rushing over to her Pokémon. The impact was powerful enough to cause severe damage to Gaia who began stumbling once back on her feet. "Gaia are you alright? Can you still fight?"

Gaia stopped stumbling and shook its head with a determined expression before jumping back in to confront Brock's Onix.

"Alright" Kikyo said before returning to the trainer square, _"Gaia is pretty banged up after that last hit"_ she thought to herself, _"With Onix poisoned its slowly losing health, but its really tough even with poison and absorb it won't be easy to beat. Gaia doesn't have the strength to just jump around and evade until the poison finishes Onix off, in that case I have to bring out someone faster"._

"Gaia that's enough for now come back" Kikyo called, returning her Pokémon to its ball. Looking to Izanami at her feet she smiled, "You're up Izanami go get him!"

Izanami yipped and jumped into the battle area and stared down the massive Onix.

"Izanami go use sand attack" Kikyo ordered.

Izanami turned around and kicked up a cloud of dirt and sand, sending it into the eyes of the Onix blinding it and reducing its accuracy.

"Onix use rock throw!" Brock ordered.

Onix used its tail to pick up more rocks and began throwing them at Izanami who easily dodged thanks to the sand she kicked into the rock snake's eyes. After evading the thrown rocks Izanami was ordered to charged in and use double team once Onix tried to attack her. Izanami stopped in front of Onix and began creating illusionary copies of herself, all of them circling around Onix making it lose track of which one was real. Brock ordered Onix to use slam on the battle field creating a shockwave that made Izanami trip making the copies vanish leaving her exposed.

Watching Onix loom over Izanami Kikyo immediately ordered her to use sand attack and then jump out of the way. Kicking sand into Onix's eyes once again Izanami jumped to the side avoiding Onix's tail before retreating to Kikyo's side of the field. Thanks to the poison Onix was beginning to tire out giving Kikyo the opening she was waiting for; calling Izanami back to her side she sent out Gaia again and had her use absorb.

Gaia charged back into battle and jumped onto Onix's back again, touching its leaves to the rock snake's body Gaia began draining its health. Onix roared as the effects of the poison and absorb became too much for it and it collapsed to the ground defeated.

Brock recalled Onix and praised Kikyo for her skill in battle before he sent out his Geodude again. Geodude had some time to recover, but it was still damaged from battling Gaia if he had any hope of winning this battle he would have to do it now.

"Geodude use rock throw then go in for a tackle".

Geodude lifted a rock up from the arena and chucked it at Gaia before charging in behind it. Gaia after replenishing its health was easily able to dodge the rock and the charging Pokémon before countering with a stun spore absorb combination. Absorb did the trick draining away the last of Geodude's health giving Kikyo the victory. Brock returned Geodude to its pokeball and praised Kikyo on a battle well fought.

Kikyo smiled and thanked him as he walked over to her and handed her the Boulder Badge as proof of her victory over him.

"Congratulations Kikyo" Shawn said to her.

Keith nodded, "That was an awesome match I'm impressed".

Kikyo thanked both of them just as Brock asked them to follow him back to the lobby of the gym, "This machine here is the same one used by Pokémon Centers to restore a trainer's Pokémon to full health" he told them as he placed his pokeballs on the machine, "I receive a lot of challengers so eventually I had one brought here so I wouldn't have to go back and forth between the Pokémon Center".

When his Pokémon were restored he looked back at them and asked who was going to challenge them next to which Keith stepped forward, but Shawn stopped him.

"Hey Keith hold on a second" he said grabbing Keith's shoulder.

"What is it?" Keith asked him his red eyes glinting from the sunlight coming through the windows.

"How about we make this a double battle, I'm sure you can handle him yourself, but we would get done faster if we teamed up".

Keith looked back at Brock, he didn't really care if he took Brock on himself or in a double battle he knew he was going to win either way. Brock agreed to the idea wanting to challenge himself as a trainer more than anything, leading them back to the arena Brock took his place at the far side of the field and sent out his Onix and Geodude again.

Keith looked at Shawn and whispered to him, "If we're going to do this I'm going to need a favor from you. I've noticed your battle style, you like to charge in and take a heavy offensive, but that won't work well against rock-types. My Squirtle will be strong against them, but I want your help withering away at their stats can you do that?"

Shawn nodded his head to the side, "It's not really my style, but yeah I can do that. As long as it wins us the battle I'll play along".

Keith sent out his Squirtle while Shawn sent out Horus a water-type and a flying-type against two rock-types and interesting battle, but Brock didn't intend to lose twice in one day. Ordering his Geodude to use rock throw he told Onix to lunge forward and use slam with a close ranged attack and a long ranged one he was sure to get one of them, but he was wrong. Both Horus and Squirtle showed great speed as they avoided the attacks aimed at them after Onix missed with its tail Squirtle attacked with its water gun spraying it right at Onix's head causing it a good deal of damage while Horus flew past Onix and used sand attack on Geodude.

From the side lines Kikyo watched along with Izanami and Izanagi, she was wondering why Shawn would choose Horus instead of his Kadabra sure Horus was fast enough to easily evade most of Brock's attacks, but it was a stage one Pokémon and could easily be defeated with a single attack where as Kadabra could use an array of psychic attacks. Maybe Shawn was using Horus so he could become better at reacting in an instant or maybe he wanted Horus to become stronger so it could evolve to.

Thinking back to the day before when they were still in Cerulean City Kikyo thought about when Yuri evolved after the saved a Gyarados and defeated Team Rocket in the process. Both her and Shawn caught their Pidgey's at the same time, but hers evolved before his did.

Onix charged toward Squirtle after Brock told it to use tackle, seeing the Onix charge toward his Squirtle, Keith ordered it to withdraw into its shell to protect itself from some of the damage. Squirtle hid inside its shell as Onix attacked it sending the shell flying back, but Horus flew behind it and summoned up a whirlwind causing the shell to fly back in the opposite direction. Squirtle still hiding in its shell was sent flying over Onix's head and toward Geodude who tried to use defense curl as Squirtle stuck its head out and attacked it with water gun.

The might blast of water hit Geodude and even with its defense curl increasing its defense the damage was more than enough to knock it out bringing the battle down to two on one.

"Nice save Shawn" Keith said after Squirtle KO'ed Geodude.

Shawn gave him a smug grunt, "Ask and thou shall receive; now let's finish off his Onix. I'm starting to get hungry".

Keith agreed and ordered Squirtle to attack Onix from behind while Horus hit it with a sand attack. Taking the hits from both sides Onix flailed around before turned and swinging its tail at Horus who barely managed to dive under it. Onix continued to try and attack both of them at once, but to no avail a two on one battle against a Pokémon who could easily evade its attacks and another that could withdraw into a near indestructible shell was becoming too much for it. Each time Onix would turn to attack to attack Horus Squirtle would hit it with a super effective water gun and if it was ordered to attack Squirtle it would withdraw into its shell and Horus would fly around it using sand attack to blind it.

Though he was putting up a valiant effort it was obvious to Brock that this was a one sided match Keith and Shawn were acting too well together as a team for him to beat them. Even with Onix his strongest Pokémon he was at a great disadvantage. Eventually Onix was defeated and the gym battle over with Keith and Shawn victorious.

Defeated, but not discouraged Brock congratulated both of them on an impressive battle of teamwork and awarded both of them a Boulder Badge.

After their victory the three friends gathered at the front of the Pewter City gym and said good bye to Brock who wished them luck at entering the Pokémon League before they left he gave them a map with directions on how to get through the Viridian Forest as a good bye gift before returning to his gym.

"He was a pretty cool guy don't you think?" Shawn asked as they walked away from the gym.

Kikyo and Keith both agreed as Kikyo looked at her guide book and flipped the pages to Viridian City, "So our next stop is Viridian City and the Viridian City Gym".

Keith stopped and looked at her, "Actually there might be a delay with that plan".

"What do you mean?" she asked him.

Keith explained to them that the gym leader might not be there, "Well according to Misty the Viridian City Gym has been closed for a few months now. The word is the gym leader left on a special business trip and closed his gym in the meantime. He claimed that he would return before the Pokémon League began this year, but I have no idea if he's come back or not".

"So what should we do then?" Shawn asked, "We could turn around and come back to the gym after we beat all the others or we could go check it out now".

Kikyo looked back at Keith, "How long ago did he leave?"

Keith shrugged his shoulders, "No one really knows some say it was a few months ago others say it was right after last year's Pokémon League".

"He didn't put someone else in charged while he was gone?" Shawn asked.

Keith shook his head, "From what Misty and I have heard the gym has been completely closed no one in or out".

Kikyo looked at the entrance to Viridian Forest in the distance, "Let's head back to Cerulean for now. The Indigo Plateau is only a few hours walk from Viridian City we can come back and get our badge after we get the others from there we can go straight to the Pokémon League".

Shawn and Keith agreed with that plan and they turned around and returned to Pewter City. Back at the Pewter City Pokémon Center the group of friends decided to rest for the night and return to Cerulean the next day.

After night had fallen around the city the three of them turned into their room for the night, Shawn and Keith fell asleep right away leaving only Kikyo away.

Lying on her side Kikyo had her arm propped up resting her head in it as she gently rubbed Izanami who was curled up next to her, "It's only been a week and I've already won two gym badges. If we keep this up I'll be entered into the Pokémon League before it even starts".

Izanami made a purring like sound as she continued to pet her, smiling at Izanami Kikyo lay down, "I wonder how dad and Erika are doing". Relaxing against the warm bed Kikyo allowed her eyes to close and fell asleep with Izanami next to her.


	5. The Rivalry Begins

"Really? That's great I'm so happy for you".

Cerulean City Pokémon Center, Kikyo was standing in front of the Pokémon Center's PC using it to contact Erika back in Celadon City.

"So where are you going next?" she asked her former student.

Kikyo thought for a moment before she answered her, "We're going to Vermillion City next I heard the Gym Leader there is pretty tough, but I'm confident that I can win".

Erika sounded happy, "Well I wish you luck Kikyo let me know when you start to head back this way".

Kikyo smiled as Erika wished her luck, "I will, I have to go now, but I'll be back home within a week or two".

Erika said goodbye before hanging up, Kikyo looked over to Shawn and Keith who were sitting at a corner table talking with each other. Walking over to them she heard a part of their conversation that made her suspicious of them.

"So how long have you known each other?" Keith asked Shawn who had a really suspicious smile on his face.

"Since we were kids".

"So how far does your relationship go?" Keith asked him.

Shawn was still grinning mischievously, "One step above mutual attraction and one step short of exclusive".

Keith was about to ask him something else, but Kikyo spoke up as she walked over to them, "What are you two talking about?" she half yelled, just loud enough to startle them.

Shawn looked at her with a nervous 'I've been caught' smile on his face, "We were just um…"

Keith immediately admitted to her what they were talking about without any concern in his tone, "We were talking about your relationship together".

Shawn slowly turned his gaze back to Keith with a blank glare as if he was trying to kill him with his mind, "Are you trying to get me killed?"

Keith gave him a manipulative smirk, "What are you talking about? If you two are dating why would it be problem to talk about it?"

"Not the point" Shawn growled through closed teeth before Kikyo slapped him in the back of the head.

"He told you we were dating?" she asked Keith.

"Not directly" he told her, "We were originally just talking about how the two of you grew up together".

Shawn cut him off, "And then you asked me how close we are".

"And that's when you walked in" Keith said looking back to Kikyo.

Kikyo looked down at Shawn with an ice cold stare which made him grin nervously, "I wasn't aware that we were going out".

Shawn looked like he was about to say something, but Kikyo shook her head, "No, leave now".

Slowly sliding out from his seat Shawn backed away with Izanagi following him. After he left Kikyo shook her head again before looking at Keith, "He's a really nice guy and I would be lying if I said I didn't like him, but sometimes he doesn't know where the line is for his jokes".

Keith laughed under his breath, "I used to be the same way with Misty" he said to her as he began reminiscing his childhood growing up with the current gym leader, "We both grew up here and we met when I found her being bullied by a couple of guys by the river. They took her fishing rod and threw it into the water I threw a few rocks at them and pushed them into the water. They ran away once they got out and from there Misty and I became friends".

Kikyo slid into the seat at the table, "So you helped her, what happened from there?"

Keith looked out the window, "Despite how she acts now Misty was pretty timid back then. I was 6 and she was 10 at the time, she lacked confidence and didn't have a lot of friends. I didn't either, but when I helped her that day…" he nodded his head to the side, "I felt a lot of pride" he began laughing, "When I turned 11 she saved me from drowning at the river. We were going for a swim at the end of the cape, there used to be an old look out point there, but the entire deck collapsed from a storm. I dived into the water and somehow my trunks got snagged on the destroyed deck I remember seeing her swimming toward me before I passed out".

"What happened?" Kikyo asked him taking a quick look at Izanami who jumped into her lap.

Keith shook his head, "I passed out, but she managed to free me and pull me back to safety" he paused for a moment remembering what happened when he regained consciousness.

_Misty was giving him mouth to mouth trying to revive him desperately calling to him to wake up. Eventually he began coughing the water flying from his mouth before he slowly sat up unsure of what was going on. Happy to see that he was alive Misty hugged him tightly, Keith struggled as the side of his face was pressed against her chest he freed himself from her grasp and turned away from her blushing brightly._

"_Keith?" Misty muttered, "Are you ok?"_

_Keith was shaking a little, "I'm ok I just…you were…holding me really close"._

_When he said that Misty immediately realized why he was blushing and began blushing herself, "Oh I didn't mean to…I was just happy that you were ok"._

_Keith thanked her slowly forcing himself to look at her again, "Um…"_

_Misty giggled at him, "You sure do tend to get into trouble when I'm not around, maybe we should get married that way I can keep an eye on you"._

_Keith's face turned bright red again as he turned back around, "Mi…Misty don't joke like that"._

_Misty began laughing at his embarrassment making Keith blush even more to the point where he thought he was getting a fever._

"Keith" Kikyo snapped brining him out of his memories, "Don't space out on me".

"Sorry" he apologized, "Where was I?"

Kikyo giggled, "You were telling me about how you almost drowned before Misty saved you".

"Right" he said before continuing, "Well actually there's really not much else to tell I helped her when we were kids and she saved me we've been together for a long time kind of like you and Shawn you've been friends since you were kids right?"

Kikyo had a small, shy smile as she nodded, "Yes when he and his mom first moved to Celadon from the Johto region he was only 2 I was the same age, but we lived next to each other and just ended up playing together all the time".

Keith looked out the window again, "To tell the truth I knew he was joking when he told me the two of you were dating, but the way he said it".

"It sounded like wishful thinking?" Kikyo asked.

Keith seemed surprised, but nodded to her, "Yeah. He really likes you so try no to be too upset with him".

Kikyo smiled, "I'm not I just wanted to mess with him he's probably out there wondering how deep of a hole he dug himself into".

Keith smiled at her, "That's pretty devious of you. Cunning in battle, quick to think on your feet and a devious sense of humor I have to say that's an interesting combination".

Hearing those words made Kikyo remember the day before they first arrived in Cerulean City Shawn had said something similar to her.

_Kikyo was challenged by a trainer along the way and thanks to her ability to quickly asses the battle and come up with a plan she won easily. After the trainer left in defeat Shawn turned to his childhood friend, "You were really good out there" he said._

_Kikyo thanked him as he continued, "In some ways I think you'll be a better trainer than I could ever be"._

"_What do you mean?" she asked him._

_Shawn looked down at Izanami and Izanagi, "Well you can strategize and think two and three steps ahead of your opponent while I'm only focus on the now in a battle. I think of nothing, but offense that's just how I battle while you take advantage of types and status ailments I only think of power and brute force"._

_Shawn then looked up to the sky, "To be honest the way you battle when I watch you think and come up with these strategies I…I" he shook his head, "Never mind its nothing"._

_Kikyo looked at him with an interested gaze, "No I want to hear what you wanted to say"._

_Shawn shook his head again, but she kept pressing him until he gave in, "I just feel like I'm watching" he growled and shook his head again._

"_Tell me" Kikyo laughed._

_Shawn blushed and looked away from her, "You look…really beautiful when you battle"._

_Surprised by his words Kikyo blushed to and asked him what he meant._

"_The way you focus, the look in your eyes when you're assessing everything and the way your body moves when you're battling…I just like watching you battle"._

_Kikyo was silent for a moment before blinking her eyes as if she realized something, "So when I'm in a battle you're looking at my body and not the battle?"_

_Shawn blushed again and turned around, "That's it I'm done" he began walking away making Kikyo laugh as she followed him._

"_I was just teasing you calm down. Thank you though"._

_Shawn remained silent as she thanked him after walking quietly for a few minutes she jumped in front of him, "So do you really think I'm beautiful?"_

_Shawn's face had just returned to its original color, but after she asked him that his face turned red again, "Can we please drop the subject" he snapped before walking past her._

"Now who's the one spacing out?" she heard Keith ask her.

Quickly shaking her head Kikyo realized that she had zoned out. She giggled as she apologized, "Sorry…I got lost in my own memories for a second".

Keith got up and stretched his arms, "Well shall we go check to see if he's still sane?" he asked referring to Shawn who was still gone.

Kikyo nodded and got up as well once she got up Izanami jumped down and followed them as they left the Pokémon Center. Outside the two of them looked around, but Shawn was no where to be seen.

"Think he's off crying somewhere?" Keith asked her.

Kikyo shook her head, "No I'm sure he's off doing something. He's probably looking for people to battle him or somewhere quiet writing in that book of his".

"Yeah what is that about?" Keith asked her.

When they left Pewter City to return to Cerulean, Shawn had stopped by a Pokemart and bought a black leather bound notebook along with multiple other items. On their way back through Mt. Moon Shawn had been writing in the book at every chance he got. When they decided to take a quick break inside Mt. Moon Shawn's pen was moving across the paper so fast it looked like it might burst into flames, but neither of them knew what he was writing or why.

Kikyo thought to herself for a while, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't think of what he could be writing. Shaking her head she told him she had no idea and they continued looking for him. They looked around the back of the Pokémon Center in the Pokemart and even check the Cerulean Gym only to find that neither Shawn nor Misty were there.

"Now where did she run off to?" Kikyo wondered.

"She's probably somewhere at the cape fishing" Keith said, "That or out training either way she's most likely at the cape".

"Maybe Shawn came by here and they both went to the cape" Kikyo thought out loud.

Keith turned to the gym door, "He's at the City's most popular dating spot with my girl I don't think so".

"Your girl?" Kikyo asked, "So you do like Misty!"

Keith's face turned red, "Well of course I like her…she's my friend".

Kikyo began laughing at him, "Alright if you say so, come on let's go see if they really are there".

Shawn quietly laughed at himself as he followed her out of the gym and toward Cerulean Cape. While they passed over Nugget Bridge they heard Shawn's voice yelling.

"Beedrill evade and use poison sting!"

Looking over the edge of the bridge they saw Shawn using his Beedrill to battle another trainer and his Bellsprout. From the looks of things Shawn was winning, but only slightly the opposing Bellsprout was only showing signs of minor damage. Beedrill dodge Bellsprout's razor leaf attack and countered with poison sting scoring a critical hit. The trainer quickly ordered his Bellsprout to use synthesis to recover its health, but the Pokémon quickly curled over before it could execute its move it seems that the poison sting attack worked and poisoned its target.

The trainer watched as his Pokémon fainted from the poison before recalling it to its pokeball and admitting his defeat. After the trainer left Shawn looked up to his Beedrill which flew down to him, "You did a good job Beedrill thank you".

The bug Pokémon nodded as it was returned to its pokeball and Misty walked over to him, she was watching the battle from the sidelines, "That was pretty good you've gotten better".

Shawn thanked her, "I've still got a long way to go, but I feel like I've got a real chance to make it to the Pokémon League".

"All three of you do" Misty told him, "You may have a crude and aggressive battle tactic, but that keeps your opponent constantly on defense which means they can't attack back and Kikyo…well we've seen what she can do in a battle".

Shawn smiled, "Yeah she's really something…I want to challenge her myself, but I have this feeling that if we battled right now she'd tear right through me".

"Is that so?" Kikyo's voice called to him.

Shawn quickly turned around to see her and Keith walking over to them, "Hey there".

"So you admit I'm better than you?" Kikyo asked him.

Shawn shook his head, "For now you are".

Misty smiled at Kikyo, "Welcome back" she smiled at Keith as well, but began blushing and looked away from him, "I'm glad to see you made it back safely".

Keith smiled back at her, "Please there's nothing out there that I can't handle".

Everyone knew he was just joking, but something about his tone made them want to make him put his money where his mouth was.

Misty gave a short laugh before remembering something she wanted to tell Kikyo, "Oh yeah Kikyo I just remembered. You know that Gyarados that helped us fight Team Rocket".

Kikyo looked at her as she remembered the Gyarados she saved at the risk of her own life; Gyarados were infamous for easily provoked tempers and the rage that would follow. However after she placed herself in harm's way to protect it this particular Gyarados developed a grateful affection for her.

"What about it?" she asked the gym leader.

"It's still at the river; it's waited there since we left".

"What?" Keith asked in disbelief.

Misty nodded, she even sounded like she didn't believe it herself, "It hasn't moved at all it hasn't even gone back to the ocean I think its waiting for you to come back".

Kikyo took her words in for a second before turning around, "Well maybe I should go say hi to it".

Kikyo left to return to the river with her friends following behind them. They had to take the long way around however to avoid disturbing the Beedrill nest that was still nearby. Even after Team Rocket's disturbance the Pokémon refused to move from their territory although according to Misty they had been really quiet since Team Rocket was stopped.

Arriving at the river Kikyo walked along the bank staring into the deep river waiting patiently for the Gyarados to surface. Even though the river reached several miles into the main land it was really deep and really wide big enough to completely conceal the Gyarados once it dived down. Eventually coming to the turn in the river where they fought Team Rocket the river began rippling and the Gyarados shot out of the water and looked down at them.

"Hey Gyarados" Kikyo said with a smile, "Did you miss me?"

Seeing Kikyo the Gyarados' eyes expressed its happiness to see her as it leaned over and gently rubbed its head against her.

Kikyo giggled at its affection, "I guess you did I heard you've been waiting here since I left".

The Gyarados made a low growling sound its eyes still showing happiness.

Kikyo placed her hand around her chin for a moment before looking up to the Gyarados, "Hey would you like to come with me? You're really strong you could help me in my quest".

The Gyarados gave a low roar again before rubbing its head against her clearly it was happy about the idea of going with her.

Kikyo took one of her pokeballs and stepped back, "Alright then just hold still ok".

Kikyo threw the pokeball at Gyarados which held still just like she told it and allowed the pokeball to catch it. When the ball stopped moving Kikyo walked over and scooped it into her hands with a really happy expression on her face as she looked back at her friends who were unsure if they really just saw what they think they did.

"Ki…Kikyo" Shawn stuttered, "Did you really just?"

Kikyo giggled happily, "I have a Gyarados!" Holding the pokeball up to the sunlight she continued to smile, "A Pokémon this powerful will be a great help to me…hmm powerful…"

"Is something wrong?" Keith asked her.

Kikyo lowered the pokeball and cradled it in her arms as if it was a crying child, "Titan" she said aloud in what sounded like a motherly voice.

"Titan?" Misty wondered.

"It's the nickname she chose for it" Shawn told her.

"That sounds like a fitting name to me" Keith said crossing his arm, "A titan is a powerful entity and we've all seen first hand what that Gyarados can do when it's pissed off".

"Which means now she has a real heavy hitter on her team" Shawn sighed as Kikyo continued to stare at the pokeball in her hands as if she was mesmerized by it.

Kikyo was completely silent as she stared at the pokeball imagining what she could do with her new Pokémon she was quiet for quite a while before Shawn walked over to her.

"So are we just going to stand here all day?"

Kikyo finally snapped out of her trance and looked up to him, "What?"

Shawn gave her a blank stare, "You've been staring at that pokeball for almost ten minutes we should head back".

Kikyo placed the pokeball on her belt and apologized, "Sorry I just never thought I'd have a Gyarados of all Pokémon".

Kikyo walked back over to Keith and Misty and apologized for spacing out on them. Returning to Cerulean Cape they made their way back to Nugget Bridge where they found a few trainers battling each other. Seeing the multiple Pokémon battles going on around them they stopped for a while to watch.

"So many battles going on at once" Shawn said as he watched a Beedrill take down a Rattata, "You'd think there was a big competition going on or something".

Keith scanned his eyes over each of the battles happening around them looking at each of the trainers. He was looking for someone who looked like they would be a good challenge, but all of them were too young to have a chance against him. Even though he only officially started as a trainer not even a week ago he had already defeated a gym leader giving him more experience from that one battle than any of these kids could possibly have.

"So many of them all going at it" Kikyo said, "I wonder if they would panic if I called Titan out right in the middle of all of them".

"Could you possibly be more evil?" Shawn asked her with a slight smirk.

Kikyo turned to him, "I'm sure I can come up with other ideas".

"And we're moving on" Shawn immediately said sounding like he was worried about those words.

Kikyo and Misty began following Shawn as he walked down the bridge, but Keith suddenly told them to wait.

"Hold on" he said, his tone changed he sounded determined or rather eager about something.

"Wh…What is it?" Kikyo asked him when she noticed he was looking right at her.

Staring right at her Keith had no intention of making this sound friendly, "Kikyo battle me".

Kikyo was surprised by his sudden change and his request to battle her, the way he said it made it sound like he wasn't asking her to face him, but demanding it.

Kikyo quickly composed herself and gave him a determined glare before nodded, "Alright let's do it".

The four of them walked over the bridge and to a small field where a lot of young trainers would gather to battle each other.

"_Out of everyone in Cerulean City there are only three people I know who I consider a worthwhile opponent"_ he moved his eyes over his three friends, _"Misty, Kikyo and Shawn, but out of the three of them Kikyo is obviously the better of them. I know each of them are really good trainers, but I know Kikyo is the only one who can give me the challenge I really want"._

Kikyo had only seen Keith in a real battle once when he teamed up with Shawn in a double battle against Brock so she didn't have any knowledge of his battle style, but he had seen hers multiple times giving him a slight advantage, but she didn't seem concerned in fact Kikyo was smiling eager to begin.

She sighed in her mind,_ "Ok my advantage I have 5 Pokémon to his 3. His advantage Pokémon types that can easily over power mine. Pikachu defeats Yuri, Titan is weak to electric attacks, but has power on its side so its possible to beat Pikachu with him, but I haven't used him in a battle yet. Gaia can defeat his Squirtle with relative ease, but then there's his Charmander fire attack will burn away her health and my Beedrill, well Abeille can fly, but it won't have a good advantage over any of his Pokémon…And then there's Izanami"._

"_I have numbers on my side, but he can counter each of them. I could play defensively and keep dodging his attacks, but I have no idea how fast his Pokémon are or his reaction time he could make a second attack within a second if he's fast enough then again since he knows my battle style I could change it and play aggressive I trust my ability to stay on my toes just in case and the change in my battle style would throw him off giving me the element of surprise"._

Kikyo shook her head, _"No that would only work once. Keith's intelligent I can tell he'd be taken by surprise, but he'd adjust to the situation right away…I'd hate to say it, but I don't think I can win this one…unless…hmm. That could work, but either way I won't know until I try"._

Keith and Kikyo had been staring at each other for a few seconds without saying a single word making Misty and Shawn anxious.

"Are they going to start anytime soon?" Misty wondered.

"They're analyzing each other" Shawn told her, "It's only been a few seconds, but they're both trying to figure out a solid plan" he looked over to Keith, "Keith has seen Kikyo battle several times including against you and Brock" he turned his gaze to Kikyo, "As for Kikyo I'm willing to bet everything I own that she's already gone through every advantage and disadvantage for both of them her Pokémon are still low level as our Keith's, but he has a type advantage over her Pokémon so her only real advantage is Gyarados' sheer power".

Misty looked back and forth between Keith and Kikyo while Shawn sat down and pulled his notebook out of his bag waiting for the battle to begin.

"I guess I'll start" Keith said rearing back and throwing his pokeball, "Pikachu go!"

Sending out his Pikachu, Keith kept a close eye on Kikyo figuring she would send out either Gaia or Izanami as Yuri, Titan or Abeille wouldn't be a good choice against an electric type like Pikachu.

Kikyo grabbed one of her pokeballs, "Alright nothing ventured nothing gained Abeille you're up!"

Kikyo threw her pokeball into the air releasing her Beedrill which surprised Keith.

"Abeille go fly in and use poison sting"

Abeille's wings began fluttering as the Pokémon made a buzzing sound before flying toward Keith's Pikachu to attack it.

"Pikachu intercept it, use thunder shock"

Pikachu jumped up and unleashed its attack which is just what Kikyo was waiting for.

"Abeille break off and use double team".

Abeille flew to the side to evade the thundershock attack and created a platoon of illusionary copies of itself, all of them flying circles around Pikachu in an effort to confuse it.

Keith remained calm as he looked around at the circling Beedrill waiting for it to makes it move.

Kikyo waited she wasn't watching Keith's Pikachu, but him instead watching his eyes for any tell that he was about to make a move. Neither of them made a move knowing full well that the first one to act would be put at a disadvantage. Abeille continued to circle around Pikachu its double team illusions still in effect and they seemed to be slowing down slowly revealing the real Abeille and that's when Kikyo figured out why Keith didn't make a move.

"Abeille use poison sting now!"

Abeille flew out of its circle of copies and fired a barrage of spines at Pikachu from its stinger. Pikachu evaded the attack at is trainer's command and countered with thunder shock. Abeille barely evaded the attack only proving what Kikyo suspected, keeping its double team going was making it tired and slowing it down.

Kikyo mentally scolded herself for not thinking of such a thing, but she was far from giving up.

"Abeille go in and use pin missile!"

Keith waited for Abeille to fly in closer before ordering Pikachu to use quick attack to counter it. Once Abeille got closer Pikachu evaded its attack and started running around building up speed before tackling into Abeille and knocking it out of the air.

"Abeille!"

Abeille tried flapping its wings to get back up, but Keith wasn't going to risk a counter attack ordering Pikachu to deal the final blow with thunder shock.

Hearing Keith's order Kikyo quickly recalled Abeille to its pokeball, _"So this is how Keith battles…He's like a combination of Shawn and me. He's strategizing and using a ruthless offense to secure his victory…I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't think it would be this hard"._

Grabbing her next pokeball Kikyo narrowed her eyes before taking a deep breath before throwing the ball, summoning Gaia.

The Oddish jumped up and down happily before seeing Pikachu staring at it. Getting into battle position Gaia stared back at Pikachu.

"Alright this is where we make a come back, Gaia use stun spore"

Gaia jumped up and began shaking its body releasing the spore cloud from its body.

"Pikachu get out of the way!"

Pikachu jumped to the side barely avoiding the stun spore cloud leaving it open for Gaia to tackle it from the side.

Gaia sent Pikachu flying into the ground after rolling for a few feet the electric mouse managed to catch itself and stood back up right as Gaia jumped above it and by Kikyo's order used poison powder. Keith called for Pikachu to get away, but it couldn't move fast enough as the purple cloud of spores fell onto its body poisoning it.

After the poison took effect Kikyo told Gaia to use absorb a strategy Keith had seen multiple times first poison the target then use absorb to drain its health while the poison slowly added to the damage.

Waiting for Gaia to start using absorb Keith yelled for Pikachu to attack with a close range thunder shock, but Kikyo had already planned for this and told Gaia to jump back as Pikachu unleashed its attack missing Gaia and causing minor damage to itself from the close range.

"Pikachu come back" Keith ordered recalling his Pokémon to its ball, "Since Gaia is the one out that means, Charmander go!" Sending Charmander into battle Keith immediately called for it to use ember on Gaia.

Kikyo quickly called for Gaia to dodge and counter with stun spore. Seeing the stun spore attack incoming Keith ordered Charmander to aim its ember attack right at the stun spore cloud. Charmander inhaled a deep breath before exhaling the intense flames and incinerating the stun spore cloud and scoring a grazing hit on Gaia's body.

Kikyo recalled Gaia before she fell to the ground and pulled out another pokeball so far the score was 1-0 in Keith's favor, but Keith only had 3 Pokémon while Kikyo had 4 remaining. Both trainers had a fire in their eyes as Kikyo sent out Yuri next and ordered it to use quick attack.

Watching from the sidelines Misty was impressed at the way the two of them were battling each other so strategically and aggressively. Shawn however kept taking his eyes off the battle every few seconds and began writing in his notebook, his pen flying across the paper every time one of the Pokémon made a move.

It wasn't just Misty and Shawn watching the battle anymore, other trainers started gathering around as the battle continued going. Most of them only gathered because they recognized Misty and Keith, but had never seen him battle before. The crowd of spectators began growing larger, but neither of the battling trainers seemed to notice and if they did they did not care their only focus was each other.

Yuri dived down from the air to hit Charmander with a wing attack, but Charmander used smokescreen to shield itself. Yuri stopped its dive and began flapping its wings to blow the smoke away only to have Charmander's ember fly at her from the smoke cloud. Barely avoiding the attack Yuri was ordered to dive back in and hit Charmander with another quick attack. Yuri's beak was rammed right into Charmander's body sending it flying back. Once its opponent went sailing Yuri was ordered to follow up with a wing attack.

Yuri flew toward Charmander with its wings extended and once it got close enough Charmander while still falling in haled a deep breath and unleashed a heavy ember attack that was too close for Yuri to fully avoid. Yuri flew by Charmander scoring a direct hit with its wing attack, but suffering a crippling burn on its wing in the process hindering its ability to fly.

Charmander violently hit the ground and Yuri landed on its feet its left wing burned from Charmander's last attack. Both Pokémon were hurting, but still in the fight the only question was which one would go down first.

Keith decided it was time to call it quits for Charmander and returned it to its pokeball leading Kikyo to do the same.

Kikyo sent Gaia back out as Keith sent out Squirtle giving Kikyo the type advantage this time, but he had already come up with a plan to avoid that.

Keith sent Squirtle charging in at Gaia who was told to use sleep powder in defense just as Keith predicted.

Squirtle was ordered to stop and jumped backwards to use water gun on Gaia who like always jumped into the air to unleash its powder attacks. The water gun although not very effective against its target knocked it out of the air and back to the ground. While Gaia fell Keith told Squirtle to charge in and jump after it.

Following its trainer's command Squirtle ran toward the falling Gaia and jumped up retreating into its shell and spinning, intercepting Gaia as she fell.

Gaia hit the ground hard, but managed to get up slowly, "Gaia are you ok?" Kikyo asked. Gaia looked back at her and nodded showing it was still good to keep fighting.

Kikyo hummed to herself coming up with an idea that might work on Squirtle. Ordering Gaia to charge right at Squirtle she waited for Keith to react before having Gaia jump to the side to avoid the water gun attack and then jumped above Squirtle and have her use stun spore. Squirtle was order to withdraw to the safety of its shell and wait for the spores to pass, something Kikyo was counting on. Once Squirtle retreated into its shell Kikyo ordered Gaia to stand next to the shell and send another stun spore attack directly into it.

With Squirtle paralyzed Gaia stuck its leaves inside its shell and began draining its health, Keith called for Squirtle to attack or try to get away, but the paralysis had taken full effect locking the Pokémon's entire body in place. When it was done draining Squirtle's HP Gaia jumped back with its health fully restored and Squirtle's head slowly emerging from its shell with its eyes closed completely unconscious.

Keith recalled his Squirtle he knew he had a type disadvantage battling against Gaia, but he figured he could win since Gaia was still badly damaged from its battle again Pikachu and Charmander. With his Squirtle knocked out that left him with only 2 Pokémon and Kikyo still had 4 including her new Gyarados.

Keith took a moment to think of a strategy to help him, the obvious choice would be to use Charmander, but it's was the most damaged out of his Pokémon and Pikachu was still poisoned. Kikyo's Beedrill, Abeille was defeated and her Pidgeotto, Yuri was damaged and suffering from a burn effect thanks to Charmander, but it could still battle that wasn't all. Kikyo still had her Eevee, Izanami her Oddish, Gaia which was now almost at full health again and her Gyarados, Titan.

No matter how he looked at it Keith's Pokémon were too damaged for their type advantage to really mean anything against the number of opponents left. Keith narrowed his eyes, "No I'm not giving up" he muttered to himself, "No matter how much of a disadvantage I'm at I'm going to keep going".

Grabbing one of his pokeballs Keith sent out his Charmander again hoping that the type advantage would be enough to compensate for the difference in HP. Charmander opened up with ember which Gaia dodged before using poison powder, but Keith ordered Charmander to conceal itself within a smokescreen to avoid the attack.

Thanks to the smokescreen Gaia's poison powder missed and Charmander was completely concealed from both Gaia and Kikyo's vision giving Charmander the opening it needed. Charmander attacked from inside the smokescreen with ember taking Gaia by surprise giving it no time to dodge.

Gaia took a direct hit from the surprise attack and flying back toward its trainer.

"Gaia" Kikyo cried running over to her Pokémon and lifting it into her arms.

Gaia looked up to its trainer with a seemingly apologetic expression, but Kikyo shook her head, "No its ok you fought well I couldn't ask you to do more".

Gaia smiled at its trainer as she returned it to her pokeball and turned to face Keith again. Taking her next pokeball she whispered, "I'm placing my hopes in you".

Throwing the pokeball she called upon Yuri again surprising Keith, Misty and Shawn.

Before Kikyo could declare an attack Keith stopped her wanting an explanation as to why she would send out an injured Pokémon when she had two others in perfect condition.

"Because it wouldn't be fair" Kikyo told him, "It's true that Yuri is injured, but so is Charmander and your Pikachu is still suffering from Gaia's poison. Even if you manage to defeat Yuri I still have Izanami who's more than fast enough to defeat Charmander and even if you defeat her Titan will be too powerful for you to beat. Even with Pikachu's type advantage it's too damaged to fight against a fully fit Gyarados".

"A Gyarados" Shawn and Misty heard one of the spectating trainers whisper, "That girl has a Gyarados?"

"No way" another boy whispered, "Gyarados are violent and super powerful how could she catch one".

Kikyo looked at Yuri and then back to Keith, "If I use Titan I will win and you know it there's no way for you to beat me right now. There's no denying your skill Keith, but I have the number advantage so I'm making this a fair match. Since you only have 3 Pokémon I'm only going to use the same number and since you defeated both Abeille and Gaia that leaves only Yuri".

Keith gave her a half glare, "I don't want you going easy on me".

"I'm not" Kikyo told him, "But there's a difference between going easy on an opponent and holding back an unfair advantage and I would rather lose while playing at my best than win with an unfair advantage".

Hearing Kikyo's words everyone around was surprised by what she said; she's choosing to place her victory in the hands of an injured Pokémon instead of securing it entirely by using a Pokémon at peak condition. Many of the younger trainers thought she was crazy, but the more experienced trainers were impressed by her a trainer with a sense of honor, someone who would rather lose than gain a hollow victory.

Misty smiled, "Wow that's really cool. I don't think I would ever be able to do that I hate losing".

Misty looked down at Shawn who was writing in his notebook at an unbelievable speed, she could barely see his hand moving across the page as he was writing. She couldn't se what he was writing, but it was obvious that Kikyo and Keith's battle was inspiring him.

Misty returned her eyes to the battle in front of them as Kikyo declared her attacking. Yuri charged in with a wing attack before darting to the side to avoid Charmander's ember. While Yuri flew around in a wide circle Charmander continued to try and attack it time after time only for the bird Pokémon to evade its attacks waiting for the lizard Pokémon to tire out. Charmander attempted another ember attack, but the flames quickly died out once they were exhaled from its mouth.

Seeing this as her chance Kikyo commanded Yuri to dive toward Charmander and use quick attack to hit it from a random angle. Keith tried to tell his Charmander to evade the attack, but without knowing which direction it was coming from he had to rely sorely on his exhausted Pokémon's reflexes. Yuri disappeared from sight and immediately struck Charmander from the left with amazing speed considering its injury and burn status. Keith watched his Charmander roll across the ground and slowly get back to its feet only to collapse back down defeated.

Keith closed his eyes as he recalled his Pokémon; silently he thanked it for its valiant effort before bringing back out the first Pokémon he used, Pikachu. Pikachu was breathing heavily, the poison still taking its toll on its body, but Yuri was in the same boat. Its wing was in tremendous pain from the burn it got from Charmander.

The match was now tied 2-2 and both of the remaining Pokémon were badly injured suffering from dangerous status ailments and their stamina was nearing its limits. Many of the spectating trainers figured Keith would win thanks to Pikachu's type advantage over Kikyo's Pidgeotto, but a few of them thought Kikyo might pull off a victory he battle style was unbelievable for such a young trainer.

The two trainers exchanged a single glance with each other as if they were communicating through eye contact alone. Knowing that both Pokémon were too damaged to battle for much longer they knew the next attack would decide the battle. Kikyo and Keith grinned at each other and nodded before calling for both of their Pokémon to use quick attack.

Yuri spread its wings and shrieked before fly a few inches off the ground and speeding toward Pikachu.

Pikachu growled as small sparks of electricity arced from its cheeks before it began sprinting toward Yuri.

Both Kikyo and Keith as well as every single person spectating their match including Shawn who had stopped writing in his notebook they all watched in absolute silence as the two Pokémon collided were about to collide with each other.

In the last few seconds before they collided Kikyo's eyes widened as she saw Yuri falter to one side the burn had finally taken its toll and its injured wing was in too much pain to keep going. No one else seemed to notice it Kikyo was intently focused on the battle her perceptions became tunneled as she focused on her own Pokémon.

Yuri cringed and faltered to the side negating its attack and leaving it open for Pikachu who hit it head on sending both Pokémon to the ground with Pikachu still standing and Yuri out cold.

Kikyo closed her eyes and recalled Yuri to her pokeball, her defeat saddened her deeply, but she managed to smile as she looked down at Yuri's pokeball. She didn't realize it until the end when Yuri faltered in its attack, but that's when Kikyo figured out what happened. Yuri was going to lose no matter what; its burned wing was in too much pain for it to continue going for long the only reason it defeated Charmander was because it shared its trainer's determination. Wanting to make its trainer proud Yuri refused to give up until its body couldn't go anymore.

Holding the pokeball close to her chest Kikyo smiled and whispered, "I'm sorry…Thank you Yuri".

Keith's Pikachu finally collapsed from its poison forcing him to recall it to its pokeball thanking it for its hard work he placed the pokeball back on his belt before running over to Kikyo as Shawn and Misty joined them.

Misty and Shawn congratulated both of them on an outstanding battle just as some of the younger trainers that were watching them ran over to Kikyo and Shawn.

"That was an awesome battle" one of them said staring up to Keith, "Can you guys teach me to battle like that?"

"You were so cool out there" another said looking up at Kikyo, "You're my new idol".

Kikyo blushed at the young trainer's words and thanked her nervously before Shawn stepped between them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to ask you all to disperse. As you saw both of them need to get their Pokémon to the Pokémon Center to be healed so please get out of the way".

Thankfully they all listened and stepped aside allowing Keith and Kikyo a free path to the Pokémon Center.

After handing their pokeballs to the Center's nurse Kikyo and Keith joined Shawn and Misty at a nearby table. Izanagi had jumped onto the table and curled up in front of Shawn who had finally closed his notebook and place it back in his bag.

"What do you write in that thing?" Keith asked him as Izanami jumped into Kikyo's arms.

Shawn gently rubbed Izanagi's head as he looked at Keith, "Letters. I'm keeping track of what Kikyo and I do on our journey and send them back to my mom in Celadon. She works at the Department Store there and doesn't have a lot of time to use the video phones so I write letters to her that she can read at her leisure".

The four of them talked until the nurse called Kikyo and Keith to the counter to return their Pokémon to them before wishing them well. Leaving the Pokémon Center they all made their way to the south eastern side of Cerulean City where the Underground Path leading to Vermillion City was located.

"Why can't we just cut through Saffron City?" Shawn asked.

Kikyo looked at him, "Because we'd be going through two Routes and an entire city, this way we can just bypass that and cut straight to Vermillion".

"Alright that makes sense" Shawn nodded.

Kikyo looked at Misty and bowed her head, "It was good to see you again Misty maybe next time we can hang out longer".

Misty smiled and returned the bow, "That sounds great, just make sure you have the time to spare".

Shawn smiled at the young gym leader, "Don't forget you and I still have a match on the books".

Misty nodded at him, "Right just be ready to lose".

"If you say so" Shawn replied with a fake cocky tone before looking at Keith, "Well shall we head out then?"

Keith shook his head, "Actually I'm going to stay here for a couple of days and then set off on my own".

"Are you sure?" Kikyo asked him, "It'll be more fun if you travel with us".

Keith nodded, "I'm sure I prefer to go on my own anyway that way I can focus more on training my Pokémon. I had a lot of fun traveling with the two of you, but I want it this way".

Kikyo walked over to him and held out her arm while she continued to hold Izanami, "Well then I guess this is it for now next time we meet however I'll be the winner".

Keith smiled back as he shook her hand and watched alongside Misty as the two trainers entered the Underground Path. After they left Keith looked to Misty, "Shall we head back home?"

"Maybe" Misty said before turning to face him, "Why do you want to stay here? They'll get a big head start on you if you wait".

Keith's face turned a slight red, "Well…I'm going to be gone for a while so I…I wanted to spend some time with you before I left again".

Misty blushed when he said that and she felt a smile appear on her face as she looked away, "Well…Maybe we could head back to the gym and just relax together for a while".

Keith nodded, "I'd like that". He followed Misty back into Cerulean City and to the Cerulean Gym as the sun set above them.

Inside the Underground Path Kikyo walked alongside Shawn, still holding Izanami in her arms.

"You were amazing back there" Shawn told her, holding Izanagi in his arms.

Kikyo lowered her eyes, "I wasn't going to win the only reason Yuri managed to beat Charmander is because it pushed itself to do so. Best case scenario the battle would have been a draw".

"Is that bad?" Shawn asked her, "You and your Pokémon gave it your best".

Kikyo shook her head, "No Yuri pushed herself to the limit for me and Gaia and Abeille both fought just as bravely I couldn't be happier".

"Then why so quiet?" he asked her.

Kikyo looked up to the ceiling of the pathway, "I'm just thinking…Next time will be different I'll be the winner of that one".

"You would have won if you used Gyarados" Shawn said.

Kikyo shook her head again, "No Titan would have been too powerful for Keith's Pokémon. He's a good trainer, but I wanted a fair battle".

Noticing that Shawn had been looking at her through the corner of his eyes she blushed, "What? You keep staring at me".

Shawn averted his eyes and look straight ahead of them, "Sorry…it's just…these dim lights make you look nice".

Kikyo gave him a fake glare, "Are you saying that I don't always look good?"

Shawn panicked, "No I meant to say that…oh never mind".

Kikyo giggled and moved closer to him making him blush nervously.

"I just can't win when it comes to you" he sighed.

Kikyo giggled again, "No you cannot".

* * *

**A/N.** And chapter 5 done. The gang returns to Cerulean City for a break before moving on to Vermillion for their next gym battle.

Kikyo gains her 5th Pokemon the Gyarados she helped save and gives the powerhouse the nickname Titan. Then she goes on to battle one on one with Keith in a deadlock battle before missing the victory by mere seconds.

Now with Keith deciding that he would like to travel on his own Kikyo and Shawn say their goodbyes for now before moving on toward Vermillion City with Kikyo guaranteeing that the next time she and Keith battle she'll be the winner.


End file.
